iPod Shuffle

Hello HBeveridge,

We have a guide to walk you through syncing content between your MacBook Air and iPod shuffle.

Sync podcasts between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Note: If you have an iPod classic, iPod nano, or iPod shuffle, you must sync your device with your Mac to add podcasts and other content to it.

Follow the steps here:

Sync podcasts to your device

1. Connect your device to your Mac.

2. You can connect your device using a USB or USB-C cable or using a Wi-Fi connection. See Sync content between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch over Wi-Fi.

3. In the Finder  on your Mac, select the device in the Finder sidebar.

4. If you connect your device to your Mac using a USB cable and don’t see the device in the Finder sidebar, see If your device doesn’t appear in the sidebar. 

5. Click Podcasts in the button bar.

6. Select the “Sync podcasts onto [device name]” checkbox to turn on syncing of your podcasts.

7. With the checkbox selected, syncing is set to transfer all your podcasts to your device.

8. To sync a selection of podcasts, select the “Automatically copy” checkbox, choose the number of most recent, most recent unplayed, or most recent new podcasts from the menu, then choose to include all podcasts or selected podcasts from the episodes menu.

9. Select the checkboxes for the individual podcasts you want to sync in the podcasts list. Deselect the checkbox for any podcast you don’t want to sync.

10. Click Podcasts or Playlists to see your content organized by that category. 

11. When you’re ready to sync, click Apply.

You can choose to sync your Mac and your device automatically whenever you connect them. See Turn automatic syncing on or off on Mac.

Before disconnecting your device from your Mac, click the Eject button in the Finder sidebar.

Reply back with any further questions.

Best regards.

HBeveridge,

In this case we'd recommend making sure the content is being saved properly. Here's a resource to help with that: Save or download episodes in Podcasts on Mac - Apple Support

We hope this resolves things for you.

Take care.

I am having the same problem. I recently replaced my 2011 iMac running macOS 10.13.6 with a new Mac mini running macOS 13.4.1. On my old iMac I could easily update the podcasts on my iPod Shuffle using iTunes. I am having trouble getting my Shuffle to sync with the new mini.

In the Podcasts app I downloaded the episodes I want to transfer to my Shuffle and created a playlist (now called a station) with those episodes arranged in the order in which I want to listen to them. Following Soosie_J215's advice I then plugged in my Shuffle with a USB cable and selected it in the Finder sidebar. The Finder window now displayed a number of General options related to my Shuffle. "Manually manage music" and "Enable disk use" were preselected. If I clicked on "Manage Storage" it displayed the contents of the Shuffle, indicating that the Shuffle and the computer can to talk with each other.

I clicked on "Podcasts" and the Finder window showed options specifically related to podcasts. "Sync podcasts onto" my Shuffle and "Automatically copy" were preselected. The lists of podcasts and of playlists however are blank! I believe that this is where things are going wrong, because I had downloaded a number of podcast episodes to the computer. If I click on Sync the episodes already on my Shuffle are erased and the new episodes are not loaded onto it.

If I go back to the General pane and disable "Manually manage music" nothing changes on the Podcast pane.

Any advice would be appreciated. I love to listen to podcasts on my Shuffle while I am doing yard work.