BRING BACK IPOD NANO - AND SHUFFLE

I have an ipod nano (latest version since they stopped making them). I can not get it to work in Podcasts or Books. MUSIC is the only thing that recognizes it. I have tried all the suggestions in Finder and they do not give me the option to select "sync" it is greyed out - not even clickable. I am not buying another iPhone which is basically the New IPOD (it's HUGE). Can someone tell me how you do burpees or run 10 miles with an iphone in your pocket? It is rediculious that apple would away first with ITUNES which was an all in one place for music, podcasts, and audiobooks....but now we do not have a small portable player option like a shuffle or ipod nano to take to the gym, run or do HIIT cardio....come on folks. Like some guy said - I don't want to carry around 2 phones - I want to leave my phone at home and have a super small music player to listen to my podcasts while I run. Please bring back smaller devices to us active folks that will talk to all your new APPs (music, podcasts, and books).