IPOD help needed for guy in quarantine, w/NO WI-FI

Yes, you can buy and use an iPod without Wi-Fi - provided you load the content (music and audiobooks) prior to giving it to the quarantined person.

In most countries you can buy music:

and audiobooks:

... from the iTunes Store, which you say you have already done. In that case, they should now be in that iTunes Library that you have. You may want to check that the audiobooks are in the iTunes Library as Audiobooks (not music). This is an important step which will become relevant later.

If your laptop is running Windows 10, then any iPod will work with the iTunes programme that you have put on on it. If you have Windows 7, I believe that a 7th generation iPod Touch will work with it. The 6th generation iPod Touch definitely works with Windows 7.

You can buy music and audiobooks from Amazon if you wish. You need to go through a few extra steps though, to get them onto your iPod. The only method is by using iTunes:

• Music:
  • music you buy in the Amazon store as mp3s needs to be downloaded by you onto your computer
  • you then need to add the music to your iTunes Library. (There's a command on the top bar menu to add the music)
• Audiobooks (these are bit trickier):
  • basically, you go through the same process as above, to get the audiobooks into your iTunes Library, but
  • you then need to check whether they are in the Library as Audiobooks, or in the Music Library
  • if listed as Music, you will need to arrange to change their settings in order that they become Audiobooks in the Library
  • once listed as Audiobooks, you may want to check that chapters etc. work as expected. I don't use Audiobooks on my iPod, but I know this and the point above can be an issue

You can do all of the iTunes Library work now, before buying an iPod. I strongly recommend that you do not opt for Apple Music as I think its limitations may prove an issue for someone in quarantine and without Wi-Fi. Apple Music will not work on an iPod nano!

If you're shopping at Wallmart, perhaps you can find an iPod nano, but as stated, the only iPod that Apple still sell (and make) is the Touch, so an iPod nano will have been sitting around for a while since Apple discontinued the nano in 2017.

Plug the iPod into the computer with the iTunes purchases on it, set up Sync options to copy the music and audiobooks from iTunes to the iPod. It's important to note that there are separate settings for music and audiobooks, so if you have both, you need to set iTunes to Sync both to the iPod. Setting Sync options is only required once for each iPod.

Oh! Make sure the quarantined person has access to a USB power supply as the iPod will need to be re-charged every now and again, using the supplied cable because iPods do not come with mains power supplies anymore. If the only power is mains supply, you will need to purchase a mains-to-USB power supply as well.

The only iPod that Apple now sells is the iPod Touch.

If you are in Lockdown in your area, will you be able to obtain an iPod anywhere? If you do, it comes with basic headphones.

To add songs to the iPod, you need to either:

• buy sufficient music and audiobooks on the iPod itself (which also involves creating and setting up an iTunes account in order to do so), and then make sure it has all been downloaded onto it before giving it to the person in quarantine. You would use Wi-Fi to obtain the content first of all, but once on the iPod you do not require a Wi-Fi connection to play it
• (if using a Windows computer, or an older Mac) install iTunes (the programme) on to your computer and add music to it. This can be music (and audiobooks) that is already on the computer in digital form, or music copied into iTunes from CD. You can also purchase music from the iTunes Store, using iTunes, but you will of course still have to create an account. Then copy the content from iTunes to the iPod, using iTunes' built-in Sync procedure
• (if using a modern Mac) the method is quite different since iTunes is not used on the very latest Mac OS (Catalina). I don't know much about it as I'm a Windows user

If you're not already familiar with all of this, I think you should consider that it may take you longer to arrange all of this than the quarantine period, especially as time is ticking away now. (I may be wrong.)

I think what QuickPost is asking (and if he/she isn't, I am) is:

• do you already have an iPod that you want to put music onto?
• are you familiar with iTunes (the computer programme), or do you know whether the iPod has already been synchronised with iTunes on a computer?

My questions are guidelines, if you simply answer the questions but without more detail or context, we're unlikely to be able to offer useful help. Basically though, one adds content to an iPod by using iTunes on a computer, in which case there is no need for Wi-Fi.

Hello,

Can you please elaborate more on your question?

Writing an effective Apple Support Community post