I'm toying with the idea of getting an Touch to replace my old 30GB video iPod (which was an Apple replacement for a broken 20GB 4G B/W iPod, so basically, I haven't purchased an iPod since 2004). I really like the idea of having my entire 21GB collection on my iPod, but the 32GB Touch is pretty pricey. So, I'm been experimenting with iTunes to create a playlist that would fit on a 16GB. I think I'm pretty pleased with what I've got and it leaves plenty of room to grow. I update my iPod everyday before work, so I really don't need 20G of music on my iPod (I mean, I only have about 6-7GB of music that wouldn't fit on a 16GB). Here's what I got:
0 Stars: Unrated; not listened in the last month; limited to 1500M by random
2 Stars: 2 stars; not listened in the last 3 months; limited to 200M by random
3 Stars: 3 stars; not listened in the last month; limited to 2500M by random
4 Stars: 4 stars; not listened in the last 4 days; limited to 5000M by least recently played
5 Stars: 5 stars; not listened in the last day; limited to 600M (pretty much all)
Highest Rated Rookies: 4 or 5 stars; not listened in the last 3 days; limited to 100M by least often played
Hand Picked: in a playlist of hand picked music; not listened in the last month; limited to 300M by random
Recently Added: Rating is not 1 or 2 stars; not listened in the last 3 days; added in the last 45 days; limited to 500M by most recently added
Upcoming Show: in a playlist for whatever live show I have coming up next; limited to 200M by least recently played
All this adds up to a main playlist of ~11G which can be the basis for all my other playlists (
http://forums.ilounge.com/showpost.php?p=1276787&postcount=175). This leaves plenty of room for more music and using any additional features on the Touch like games, apps and video. I may put this on my regular iPod and see how that goes for a few weeks.