Ah, Tom, you're in a bit of a pickle, aren't you? Buying a piece of tech for someone who treats it like an alien artifact. Classic move, my friend. Alright, let's see if we can sort this technological mess, shall we?
So, in theory, yeah, you could have him ship the iPod Nano to you, load it up with a sweet playlist that you hope he won't hate, and then send it back. From there, he'd plug the thing into his MacBook Air and use Apple Music or Finder to sync it up. That's the theory. The practice? Well, let's just say it involves less rainbows and more fiddly bits.
1. **Ownership and DRM Issues**: If you're using songs from your own Apple Music account to load onto his iPod, he may run into issues when he tries to play them on his MacBook. Apple's like a hawk when it comes to DRM (Digital Rights Management), and they won't like it if they smell shenanigans.
2. **Syncing Overwrites**: Also, be warned: syncing usually means "making the two devices look the same." So if he's got nothing on his MacBook, and he syncs the iPod to it... it might actually wipe the iPod clean. Yeah, kinda the opposite of what you're going for.
3. **Old Meets New**: You mentioned the iPod Nano is new in the box from eBay, which likely means it's old stock. You also mentioned the MacBook Air is the last Intel version, which means it's relatively new. Sometimes, older Apple devices act like they're too cool for school when you try to sync them with newer tech. Just something to keep in mind.
My advice? If you're up for a challenge, go ahead, get that iPod shipped to you, load it up, and hope for the best. But maybe also consider making him a playlist on Apple Music that he can simply download to his MacBook and iPod without all this back-and-forth nonsense. And give him a tutorial on how to do it; we don't want him thinking the playlist is some kind of magical incantation he needs to recite.
Cheers, and good luck with Operation: iPod Rescue.
