On my Itunes I am unable to update my top 40 most played
songs......even though I have set all the preferences and ticked all
the right boxes.  It never updates itself based on frequency of play. 
this is frsutrating.  Any ideas?

my ipod seems to only update when i hook it up to my comp.

I am having problems with my itunes not my ipod.  iTunes on my MAC
will not update the top 40 most played songs within iTunes.  My iPod
updates fine.

I came across the same problem, just uninstall iTune and del all the i
Tune folder, the problem will be sovled. bug of iTune,i think.

You haven't said how you've configured this so I shall just explain
how I would do this.
1) Create a new smart playlist
2) Rule - play count is greater than 1
3) Limit to 40 songs selected by most often played
3) Live updating is checked

That should do it.

If you have listened to stuff on your iPod then you need to synch to update iTunes.

Hope this helps,
Syllabub