Ipod demise
Where do all the songs that are in my iPod go? Do I have to subscribe to listen to them?
Question marked as
Ideally you would keep copies of all the songs that you put on your iPod in an iTunes or Music library which you would backup to another drive for security. You don't need to maintain a subscription to Apple Music or iTunes Match unless those services offer something you want, such as the ability to have the same library across multiple computers and devices synced via the cloud.
If you have content on an iPod that isn't in your library see Recover media from an iPod - Apple Community.
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