Q: I just bought a 60 GB iPod and after installing iTunes and the iPod software it shows that it has 55.79 GB available and 73.9 MB used. (this is before I put any music on it) Is this normal? I lost almost 5 GB!
– Brian
A: Yes.
Apple’s stated capacities for iPods are based upon “unformatted” hard disk sizes – an industry-wide marketing practice that has brought about some law suits, and now is heavily disclaimed on the web sites and packages of hard disk-based products. Alas, your 60 GB iPod only holds a bit more than 56 GB, and the iPod software, as you see, takes up 74 MB in your case.
For a more detailed explanation on this point for various hard drive sizes, you can see our FAQ on actual hard disk capacities.
