Despite introducing a minor facelift to the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle, Apple has no plans of incorporating Apple Music into its two oldest devices running on iOS.
As first reported by iMore, the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle cannot stream music from Apple Music's online catalog because they do not have the Wi-Fi capabilities that are included in the iPod Touch, which received a more substantial update consisting of a jump to Apple's 64-bit A8 CPU, an improved 8 MP camera and a storage boost to 128 GB.
What's more, users who are subscribed to Apple Music will not be able to download their saved their downloaded tracks offline on the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. Users who attempt to do this will be greeted with a message on iTunes that says: "Apple Music songs cannot be copied to an iPod." For now and most likely for the entire future, the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle can only be used for playing non-DRM songs downloaded outside of Apple's music streaming service.
Apple does not specify its reason for not allowing users to sync their Apple Music tracks with the two iPods, but it is quite clear that the move is to protect the music's copyright holders from piracy. Because the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle do not have Wi-Fi access, there is no way for Apple to authenticate the songs saved in them, which means DRM songs downloaded from Apple Music will live on forever in both devices, even if the user cancels their subscription to Apple Music.
It is possible that Apple might deliver Apple Music compatibility to the newer iPod Nano, which has Bluetooth connectivity that could allow it to wirelessly sync with an iPhone or iPad and have Apple authenticate the Apple Music songs in it. This is not entirely hard to do, since the Apple Watch, which supports Apple Music, already has this capability.
However, it is not likely that Apple will pay more attention to its two oldest devices, and a bigger software update for both of them was not just on top of Apple's priorities. After all, even though the iPod launched as the iconic new device that revolutionized the mobile industry, it is from a bygone era of downloaded, not streaming music, and the iPhone, Apple's flagship product, can do pretty much everything the iPod can and more.
But for the users who are really intent on using Apple Music on their iPods, Apple has left a silver lining in the form of the iPod Touch, which is certainly not a disappointment especially given its new makeover.
