iPod Vids!
I finally sat down this morning and figured out how to get vids onto my iPod touch! \o/
I'm writing it here because it took me a while to figure out. I looked at several google hits, most of which said "use Handbrake" or "buy my product", but weren't very specific. I've used Handbrake before and like it, so I wasted some time fussing with the controls a bit and had some limited success with converting my vids to an iPod-friendly format.
I finally realized that Handbrake has a preset feature, because I don't catch on to obvious things, since I believe it to be Much Harder than it actually is. It isn't hard at all! Anyhow, perhaps you are new to this stuff, too, and might appreciate being spared the google searches and frustrating dithering that I did this morning before I got it.
To get vids on your iPod using Handbrake:
1) download Handbrake if you don't have it (it is open source and free)
2) install the program
3)open Handbrake
4) click "toggle presets" in the top right corner of Handbrake, and under the "Apple" heading, choose the type of iPod you have. (if you have a non-Apple mp3 player I think you can use 'universal', though I am not certain)
5) click "Source" at the top, open the file you wish to convert, and then hit "play". It will start encoding and save the converted file to your desktop.
6) If you want several films converted, put them in the queue (do step 5 but hit "add to queue" instead of "play").
7) make a playlist in iTunes (or whatever program you use), and drop the converted files in. Make sure you tell you iPod to sync to that folder.
8) I also had to change the preset to "sync all movies", because mine defaulted to only putting the 10 most recently added videos on my iPod.
I am an utter novice about most of this stuff, so I didn't play with any of the other business on Handbrake, I just let its preset go ahead for me.