Yes, I know these devices are old. But they worked fine until Sequoia. Sequoia evidently still has the features in both the Finder and the and the Music app to recognize those devices. Something changed, though, that prevents these features from reading the devices. If Apple was going to remove support for these devices, then they should have removed those iPod features and made a note. I suspect though that some other change has been made (security related, perhaps) that wasn't regression tested. (they did this once before -- in Ventura, I think -- where iPod connectivity was lost, but returned in a subsequent update).
Yes, I know that these devices don't owe me anything. We can discuss how relevant they are. I would submit, though that they're more usable as digital music players than the other technologies that you reference that have been obsoleted. (but in case you haven't noticed, vinyl LPs are making a comeback - they have sonic advantages over the "over-processed and compressed" digital music formats we see today).
But the iPod is still a very usable digital music player It's still compatible with digital audio formats available from almost every source (such as MP3 and AAC format). It has the advantage of being a totally stand-alone device, not requiring cellular or network connectivity. That means they can be used almost anywhere. Sync music, plug in speakers or headphones, and listen away.
They also provide an alternative to using a smartphone as a player. I don't have to worry about battery drain or storage space on my phone just to play music.
