Trying to add music to an iPod Nano

I talked to the poor Apple help folks, who were clearly Googling "How to get this iPod working" while I was talking to them.

I expect that they have a support system with problems and solutions, in which they can search. But it is not googling; it is all internal.

6gen Nano

That is a 2010 device. Probably not a daily device for many in 2025 anymore. Looking up details is expected.

iPod nano (6th generation) technical specifications - Apple Support

iPod nano (6th generation) user guide - Apple Support (PDF)

The device is pre-Apple Music (the subscription service), and wouldn’t support that service or its tracks (neither online nor downloaded). Instead, use non-DRM tracks from purchases or conversions from audio CDs in MP3 (.mp3) or AAC format (.m4a).

You’ll have to sync tracks from the Library of the Music app.

Where you store the audio files on disk doesn’t really matter, as long as the Music app has a working link to them. Test that in playback on the Mac, from within the Music app’s library. And as mentioned above, the tracks intended for iPod nano shouldn’t be Apple Music tracks.

I absolutely hate iCloud, I don't understand it, I wish I could just get rid of it and keep my downloaded music separate from the Apple Music streaming service. But when I unchecked Sync Music in settings, all of my music was gone because apparently, it's in the cloud, but also on my computer? No clue.

When starting with Apple Music, it would have offered to harmonize your old library to Apple Music equivalents, in effect replacing old tracks to Apple’s copies of the same for the iCloud Music Library. If that happened, then you may want to get the DRM-free versions again for use with iPod nano.

In Song view, you can select the tracks of an album (or other selection), then control-click or right-click to get the contextual menu, which should have an option to “Add to Device﹥«Name of iPod nano»”. That way, you don’t have to sync the whole library or mark/​unmark hundreds of tracks.

The only iPods that support the Apple Music streaming service are the iPod touch (6th generation) and the iPod touch (7th generation). They can run the Apple Music app – but cannot update far enough to meet the minimum requirements for the Apple Music Classical app.

iPods like your iPod nano do not run the iOS operating system and cannot run apps like the Apple Music app. So they don't get to play Apple Music streaming service songs. The first through fifth generation iPod touches may use iOS, but they can't update far enough to meet the minimum requirements for the Apple Music app.