Friday, November 30, 2007

How to Put DVD Movies on an iPod

Introduction
This guide will describe the basic steps about putting your DVD on iPod. Additionally, it provides detailed information on how to transfer files to your iPod, should be very easy to understand.

Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You'll Need
Wondershare DVD to iPod Ripper
Steps
 
Step 1
Prepare
Download 'Wondershare DVD to iPod Ripper'. You can copy this link onto the IE address list to download the software directly. "http://support.wondershare.com/stat/?action=down&id=5&sid=2", or google search for it. Then install and run it. The latest version is 2.0.2.
 
Step 2
Add/Rip DVD files
1) Rip your DVD files from DVD-ROM drive by clicking “Open DVD”.
Many friends ask me how to copy movies form DVDs to pc. This process calls ‘Rip’. Additional, rip DVDs is illegal. This software helps you rip DVDs automatically. You needn’t know how to break the css protect. You will not be confused by the complicated operation of ‘DVD Decrypter’ or ‘DVD Shrink’. I really love this function.
2) Or Load .ifo files from your hard disk by clicking “Add ifo”.
3) Or right click on the blank area in the center of the main interface to import video files from your hard disk or DVD-ROM drive.
 
Step 3
Select subtitle, audio and output format
1) Regular DVD movie usually has several subtitles, like English, French, German, etc. You can select anyone according to your need.
2) Select Audio it the same as select Subtitle.
3) Format: this software can convert DVD to MP4 format which are fit for iPod player, it also can extract audio track from DVD and save as MP3 or M4A format which are fit for any other MP3 player.
 
Step 4
Start Convert
After all the things done, click the ‘start’ button to start the conversion. Then a window will be popped up. Here you can preview your DVD when converting the DVD. There also has an important option name “Directly transport video files to iPod after conversion”. If you check it, then when finish conversion and your iPod has connected to PC well, the MP4 files will be transported to iPod directly; you needn’t drag them to iTunes then sync your iPod. It’s really useful for the people who know little about iTunes’ complicate operation.
 
Step 5
Connect your iPod to PC, launch iTunes.If you don’t have iTunes. You can download free from here:http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/download/ We recommend that you create a new list to place the file you converted.
 
Step 6
Find the mp4 file you have converted, directly drag into the playlist you created just now.If you have added the file to the library of the iTunes, you can drag it from library to the new playlist directly.
 
Step 7
Update your iPod. Click ‘File’->’update your iPod’.After updating, you can see the file list on your ipod. You can change the file name showing on iPod. Please right click the file, choose "Get info", and change the info of this file at "Info". You are done and enjoy!
by ShineDRC
Buy from Amazon - Apple Ipod 80GB 6th Generation

Thursday, November 29, 2007

iPod Vs. Zune: Music and Video Download Sites

There are many folks that hate both Apple and Microsoft portable media products. Apple makes iPod and Microsoft makes Zune. Fortunately for the consumer, there are other good portable media players out there now but do not have the same visibility as Apple and Microsoft products. Discussion about these other portable media players like SanDisk’s Sansa series and Creative’s Zen series devices are beyond the scope of this article. This article is about basic iPod and Zune similarities and differences. In addition, sources for purchasing music online for iPod and Zune will be briefly discussed.

The iPod is a portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and released to the public in 2001. Currently, as a digital audio player, the iPod is the best-selling music player in history. Zune is Microsoft's digital audio player, released in 2006, directly competing with Apple’s iPod. Each of these portable media players deliver what it was intended to do which is to play music or audio, display images, and play video. Each has their pros and cons.

There are many Zune and IPod similarities and I will list major ones. They each have the same starting price of around $249, disk storage, picture capacity, screen resolution, and aspect ratio. They play audio, pictures, and video. They have USB connection (to another device, typically a computer), battery, and similar battery life.

Both devices support MP3, MP4, M4A, M4B (for audio), and MOV (for video) file formats. The Zune favors Windows Media Audio (WMA) while iPod has its protected AAC format. When it comes to exchanging files, you will need software tools to convert your iTunes files to MP3 or convert Zune WMA files to MP3. Both systems support JPGs (for still images) and MPGs (for video).

There are advantages that Zune has over iPod. Approximately 60 hours more video can be stored in the 30GB version. Zune has a larger screen size and is capable of portrait mode display. Zune has wallpaper, FM radio, wireless connectivity, and faster battery charge. Zune Plays WMA audio formats and WMV video formats. It has one more standard case color: brown!

There are advantages that iPod has over Zune. iPod plays games, is compatible with the Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio formats. It plays H.264, M4V, MP4, MOV, MPEG-4 video formats. It is slightly smaller and lighter than Zune. The iPod software works on PC and Mac. Zune only works with PCs.

The primary websites for music downloads are iTunes Store for iPod and Zune Marketplace for Zune. Both sites offer music downloads of 0.99 cents per song. With Zune Marketplace, you can buy a monthly subscription for $14.99 a month for unlimited downloads as long as you have a subscription.

But there are other online music stores out there so you are not limited to Apple and Microsoft. Do an online search for “online music stores” and determine what works for you.

The stores that I recommend are offered here and have one time fees:

For iPod music and video downloads, click on http://argee.feedipods.hop.clickbank.net

For Zune music and video downloads, click on http://argee.zreactor.hop.clickbank.net
by Argee Gallamoza

Have fun with what ever portable media player you choose!

Buy from Amazon - Ipod Touch 8GB

Buy from Amazon - Zune 30GB Black