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be a matter of preference and so far I have not found the "gotta have it" free software that we all want. One of the programs I've used is AVS Video Converter ( www.avsmedia.com ). As with any program I would suggest going to www.download.com (cNet) and browsing what is available there (you'll notice the programs are rated and reviewed). Although we're talking about free content you may want to consider paying for a good conversion program. As far as your free content well it's pretty straight forward if you have you 4 key things in place. Media Center can record single shows or a series and will store the files on your computer. I've managed to quickly fill up a 300GB hard-drive by recording various series (like No Reservations, Good Eats, Lost, 24 etc...) so be aware of you disk space. Once you have your show recorded you will want to convert it for your iPod (MP4 format) and transfer it. You might consider slightly degrading the video quality, you will have this option when you choose to record a program in Media Center, in order to save some storage space on your computer and iPod. Just a side note, you can also put such vids on some cell phones.

Ahhh... the fine art of "Ripping". I'm not going to go into too much detail here. Ripping is the process of copying your movies (or other things that are already on a DVD) into your computer. You will once again need some software to do this. I will once again suggest www.download.com. Once you have done this you can then convert them to MP4 and transfer them to your iPod. Although it is illegal some people "share" such things on free services such as Limewire or Ares. These are known as Peer 2 Peer file sharing services. Again, a lot of this sharing is AGAINST THE LAW and could have viruses so be careful.

So you say you have personal vids? Well, those too can be put on your iPod. As with the other two sources above you are going to need to convert your vids to MP4. Of course before you can do that you will need to get them into your computer first. Since there are more video recording devices then I will ever be aware of you will need to use the instructions for your particular device. That being said it is usually fairly easy and often you just connect your device via a USB cable and explore it just like any other drive on your computer.

Those are your primary methods for getting free vids for your iPod. There are various other avenues to acquire free vids but you will find either a very limited amount of content to be had (like maybe from a PS3 to computer then converted to MP4 then to iPod) or a bit complex and time consuming (like from VHS to computer via some sort of video capturing software then converted to MP4 then to iPod). Although I've not lost any of my iPod content I feel much better knowing that I have a back-up copy of my vids (and all other files) or the original copy stored somewhere else. Besides the possibility of your iPod crashing or being damaged there's also the chance it could be stolen. It wouldn't be quite the same trying to get my 2 daughters to pretend to learn to walk again so, keep a back-up. It's my suspicion that some of the converting may not be necessary in the future as iPod supports different video formats and as other sources support iPod supported formats, till then love thy converter.

Learn more about this author, William Bartholomew.
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