[Chicago]

I'm adding cover art to my songs in iTunes and I started wondering whether the cover art that adds to the song file size affects my iPod.
In other words, my 3rd generation iPod has X amount of memory and it can hold Y amount of songs. However, if the song files are larger does that mean that it can hold fewer songs in RAM, meaning that it has to access the hard drive more frequently and drain the battery quicker than if I did not have any cover art my songs?
I know that the cover art cannot be displayed on a 3rd gen iPod, but it is still there taking up room and I guess it gets read and put into memory when the song it is attached to does. So, it seems logical (although I could be wrong) that it could take a toll on my iPod's battery and hard drive.
Does anyone have any information on this?
Thanks.

[Chris Breen]

Rather than hand you a fish, why not suss this one out yourself?
Create a copy of a track and include cover art with the original and remove it from the copy -- select the track, Get Info, Artwork, select track, hit Delete. Select each track individually and choose File > Show Song File. Select each file in the Finder (or in Windows) and do a Get Info to see how large each file is. Subtract the smaller file size from the larger one and that tells you what the album art is consuming.
Note that album art isn't created equally. Some consumes more space than others due to the size of the artwork.
Chris

[Chicago]

My iPod has 32 MiB (related to MB according to wikipedia) of RAM.
Within that RAM is the iPod OS (I don't know how much RAM the OS takes up - maybe 5 I don't know).
If a 3 minute song is 3 MB and there is 27 MB of free space, that leaves enough free RAM for 9 songs.
I found out that the cover art is 100 to 200 kb (approx. .1 to .2 MB). So if 9 songs at 3 MB apiece fit in the iPod RAM, then only 8 will fit (9 x .150 [ave size] = 1.35 subtracted from the 27 MB allows for 25.65 MB free). But given that I don't know the size of the iPod OS, or what the song sizes really are (sometimes 9 will fit, other times 3, other times 14 - depending on the size of the music files) there are many of variables to consider.
Overall, it will take more RAM per each song file (leaving less for the music), but that doesn't necessarily mean less songs as there may be enough RAM left over to accommodate the cover art (but not big enough for the next song to fit). Nor do I know if the iPod only puts into memory only the song data and not the picture data (or if that is even possible).
Having said that, adding cover art may increase the number of times the hard drive is accessed to play the same number of songs, consequently lowering battery time and life as well as hard drive life. But I cannot accurately come up with a ratio or percentage meaning that it may be a significant amount, or it may not.
If there is 1.35 MB less space (on average) for music each time the hard drive is accessed, that works out to be about 5% of the (estimated) 27 MB free. So, there might be 5% less memory for music, the iPod may have to work 5% harder, etc. to play the same number of songs as those without cover art.
However, I'm up for corrections and/or feedback. This is really more of an academic question than anything.