Shuffle probs, charging, loading, syncing

Question

I have an eMac with OS10.3.9 and iTunes 7.
Am I right in thinking that I must have OS10.4 and iTunes 9 or later to make the 3rd gen shuffle play tunes?
This 3rd gen shuffle does not mount into iTunes
I dragged and dropped a Play list onto the shuffle and it loaded and showed the list, but when I tried to play the list I got a droud saying "Please us iTunes to sync to this iPod"
I bought a NanoStyle (similar to the iPOd Nano but much cheaper) I dragged and dropped Three Playlists (Jazz, Pop, Classic and a Greek language course on. I had no problems charging it (the 3rd gen shuffle has been at it for 7hrs with a blinking orange light) and all the playlists workerd a treat.
I have two lanyard shuffles and two aple crocodile shuffles and they were no problem to charge and load and I also have two no-name shuffles - they all work a treat.
Why do the Phds at apple make such a cods of what should be a simple mp3 player that is backward and forward compatible? Or is it greed? Yes. you can use the shuffle provided you upgrade - and if I do upgrade will my other shuffles work in the new upgrade environment?
Beautiful looking gixmos shame about the probs

Answer 1

When the shuffle's light is blinking, it has nothing to do with battery status.  So, after "5+ hours," it should be charged.
The blinking light means DO NOT DISCONNECT.  Eject shuffle before physically disconnecting.
In the sidebar, under DEVICES, there is an Eject button to the right of the shuffle name. 
NOTE:  If the iTunes sidebar (along left side of window) is not visible, from the menu bar, under View, select Show Sidebar.
If the shuffle is set to Manually manage music (or Enable disk use) on the shuffle's Summary screen, iTunes keeps the shuffle's disk mounted continuously, so the light continuously blinks.  When you Eject the shuffle in iTunes (and leave it connected to USB), you should see that the light becomes "solid" with the color indicating battery status (green if fully charged).
Solid light means OK TO DISCONNECT.
If you use automatic syncing, so the shuffle is NOT set to Manually manage music (or Enable disk use), the light only blinks when iTunes is syncing the shuffle.  At other times, iTunes keeps the shuffle's disk unmounted and the light is solid.  And you do not need to Eject the shuffle before disconnecting.