ITunes and iPod show different song counts... not all songs sync

Question

Hi,
I've been having this problem for many many years.
I have more than 18,000 songs now, and the song count in iTunes is always 5 higher than on the iPod.  I have my iPod set to sync the entire library.  All songs in the library are checked for sync as well.  I get no error message during sync that something might be missing, incompatible, or corrupt  When I look at iPod music in iTunes it has the wrong count as well.
Every time a new version of iTunes comes out, I send feedback to Apple regarding this issue.  As expected, Apple ignores their feedback, and from what I can tell they ignore the community forums as well, and they have yet to address the issue in any way, or even contact me about it.
I'd like to find which songs are bad and remove/delete them from my library and collection or fix them.  Is there a sync log hidden somewhere that I can check to see which songs will or won't sync?  Why doesn't iTunes tell us whether or not it expects a song to sync or if it's iPod compatible?  Why does it say less songs will sync without giving a reason why?
I've heard that iPods don't sync duplicate files, but I've looked at my duplicates.. At some point, Apple screwed that up too, it shows songs that are from different compilations as duplicates now, instead of looking at the data proper to determine if it's a duplicate, it seems to just look at the Artist and Song Title and even that doesn't seem to be correct because I have more duplicate song titles listed and in some cases it lists songs from two different artists as being duplicates.  I have many more duplicates listed in itunes than the discrepancy in the song count would suggest... 3,835 more songs to be exact.
I've tried to select only checked songs and get the same results.  I've tried to restore the iPod and I get the same results.  I've tried clearing the library completely and reloading all songs and I still get the same results.  I've scanned through the library and all songs appear to have compatible settings.   All my songs are either mp3 or m4a(aac) formats.  I don't use playlists at all. 
If anyone knows of a solution, please let me know.  I don't want to have to check every single file.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Dougout78 wrote:
Every time a new version of iTunes comes out, I send feedback to Apple regarding this issue.  As expected, Apple ignores their feedback, and from what I can tell they ignore the community forums as well, and they have yet to address the issue in any way, or even contact me about it.
So that you know, for the future, Apple makes it very clear (specifically so, when you submit Feedback) that they do not respond to the feedback directly. They do however, read the feedback and consider suggestions for improvements to iPods. They also look for - and act upon - bug reports etc. That's what the Feedback is for.
They also make it clear that they do not monitor or respond to these discussions. (That said, Apple employees are free to - and do look at - some of the posts and have been known to contact posters directly when looking for further information regarding bugs.)
As you have now found, this community (as Apple now prefers to call it) can often help sort out your problems, espcecially when skilled users such as tt2 (aka Steve) are let loose!