Please help before I throw IPod / Laptop / Myself out of window

[DomesticDisaster]

Main issue here is I really don't know what I'm doing.
All I want is to put tunes on my Ipod. Basically, I have uploaded 498 tracks onto ITunes but for some reason less than this have been uploaded onto the Pod (4GB so about 1000 tunes?) It says it is near full capacity but surely I should have plenty of room.
All I can think is that I have put them on with too big a file size????
I have tried and failed to sort this out - ITunes help does not work as I can get so far but then what it's telling me to do does not seem to exist.
Please help me as I am beyond frustrated.

You didn't say but I am assuming you have a 8GB iPod Touch. If that is the case then firstly, not all of the 8GB is free space (on mine only about 6GB is free). I am also assuming that you are saying '4GB' because iTunes is telling you so. Is iTunes telling you whether the remaining free space is taken up with Apps, videos or photos?

I have quite an old IPod Nano which says 4GB on the back of it. I inherited it from my friend and she had about 800 tracks on it plus photos. I've now wiped all her stuff so starting from scratch. I have actually found a way of converting the files since my post but now I have duplicates of everything. I'm hoping if I delete the bigger files I should then be able to fit the smaller ones on. But who knows.... Thanks for responding PooshTun. If you have any more thoughts on this then please let me know.

iTunes has a setting that allows you to add either iTunes tracks to what is already on your iPod OR wipe out your iPod tracks and replace it with your iTunes tracks.

From your second post, I am assuming that your setting was such that the sync processs attempted to ADD your 498 tracks to your friend's existing 800 tracks on the 4GB Nano (only about 3.6GB would have been free space). If this the case then this would explain your original 'full capacity' problem since the combined file sizes would've topped 3.6GB.

Now that you have cleared out your friend's old tracks from the Nano then there should be enough free space to receive your 498 tracks but unfortunately, as you have discovered, when you use iTunes to convert a track you end up with the original AND the new version.

Once you've deleted the duplicate tracks then you will be ok. Your friend's tracks might have sync-ed with iTunes from your earlier efforts. If that is the case you may want to delete them as well.