Since Apple binned off iTunes I seem unable to delete or add podcasts to my iPod.

I usually plugged it into my laptop and did the drag and drop from my subscriptions lists to the ipod icon. Now thats not available and there is nothing on Apple help that refers to ipods. As infuriating as itunes was, the podcasts app thing on my laptop (a macbook) is next to useless unless I want to use my macbook to play them.

when did Apple bin off iTunes?
https://support.apple.com/downloads/itunes

On my macbook its now a choice between music or podcasts neither of which recognise my ipod when I connect to it.

Dez it’s for a MacBook not a Windows machine.

OP are you on Catalina or Big Sur with your Mac? All of the synchronising is done through the Finder on these. Plug the iPod in fire up a new Finder window and select your iPod if it’s visible. The window will show the categories to sync similar to the old iTunes approach.

Apologies if this is teaching your nan to suck eggs.

What @sandwich said

i restored my two old iPods with new batteries and put an iFlash ATA in one with a 128GB SD card to replace its broken 60GB HDD. I then erased and filled the latter one using Finder on a MacBook Pro running Big Sur. took a few plug in, unplug, restart the iPod attempts initially. Now I plug it in and it’s recognised immediately by Finder and Music. All the syncing action is in Finder though – Music just lists what’s on it.

iFlash is also a recommended upgrade. 1TB solid state iPod, battery life much extended as a benefit.