How many tunes can my itunes library hold?

Question

I do hope this doesn't sound stupid but I'm new at this. today I burned my first cd and I figured out how to copy from a cd I had onto my itunes library. So now I have approximately 20 songs in my itunes library. No small feat for someone who never did this in her life. you guys have been amazing helping me here.
so I am going to buy an ipod. I was told that I will just plug in the ipod and it will automatically put the songs from my itunes library right onto my ipod. Sounds great to me. I also asked a friend "what happens when I download some new stuff from itunes", how can I select stuff (and not the whole library again) and put the newly selected stuff on my ipod and he answered "melody, the ipod will do it automatically, just putting the new songs on there". i said "really?" he laughed and said "yes".
so if I download music, is there a limit to how many songs my itunes library can hold? I know if I buy an ipod nano that it holds 250 songs. But no where can I find out if there is a limit to what the itunes library can hold.
Thanks much. Melody

Answer 1

Back so soon. I have to be off in a minute it's getting late here but I'll see what I can come up with before I go.
You can pretty much charge your iPod when you like, the battery indicator isn't terribly reliable. The lithium-ion battery doesn't have to be run down flat before you re-charge. Check out the battery FAQ for more detailed information:
Battery FAQ
Tips and tricks to get the most out of your iPod's battery
Common Sense IPOD Battery Pointers
About the Battery charge status icon
If your iPod is set to update automatically (that's the default so I suspect that's how yours is) then it will only update if you have made changes to iTunes since the last time you connected. If no changes have been made it will just mount and begin charging. You can also get an separate charger which is useful if you are away from home and can't connect to a PC. It's also useful for charging overnight as you can save on electricity by not having your PC running all the time.
Unless you have changed any settings you probably haven't got your iPod enabled for disk use, however you should always eject it from iTunes before unplugging it, and never unplug it while it is updating and displaying the "do not disconnect message". You will find the "enable disk use" check box when you have the iPod connected to iTunes under Edit>Preferences>iPod if you want to check if it's on or not. If you ever change from automatic to manual updating then the box will be greyed out and ticked by default, in that case use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the Windows system tray on your desktop or check this link: Safely Disconnect IPod
Just a last bit of info on updating for you:
The iPod offers three ways to transfer music from your computer. You can select one of the following update modes from the iPod Preferences menu in iTunes (Edit=>Preferences=>'iPod' tab):
1) Automatically update all songs and playlists. This is the default mode, in which your entire music library, including playlists, is automatically synced to your iPod. If the music library on your computer exceeds the iPod storage capacity, you are prompted to select a different update method.
2) Automatically update selected playlists only. With this option, iTunes automatically copies the playlists you have selected to the iPod when you connect it to the computer.
3) Manually manage songs and playlists. You can also choose to transfer music to the iPod manually. This allows you to drag and drop individual songs and playlists from iTunes to the iPod.
I hope this makes some sense and is useful to you. Have a good evening and don't get too caught up in the technicalities too soon, take time to enjoy your iPod and read up on the various tutorials. I'm off now, once more, all the best and good luck.