Hi,
I've just bought my first ipod and didn't realise that it will only play 'ipod' movies or MP4.
Can anyone recommend a free bit of s/w that will do the converter job for both DVD's and AVI videos etc. that I already have?
Cheers!
James

For converting dvd images and avi's etc: http://handbrake.fr/?article=download

Assuming your on windows so im sure someone will be along shortly to recommend a DVDripper.

handbrake claims to do the job but it never really worked that well for me.

I found this one worked best.
http://www.anders.com/guides/convert/video/iPod/windows.html

Have a look at Handbrake.
Handbrake Link

Works on Windows and Mac, will accept any video input and will output to ipod compatible MP4 as well as many others.

iPodRobot

couldn't be simpler, just make sure you turn off the preview if you don't want the ending of the film spoilt.

another vote for Handbrake – works well once movie is ripped off DVD (cant remmebr what I use for that)

i used handbrake

I googled for an online guide which actually showed me how to use it to get DVDs on my iPOD in simple steps

Its a a good tool but has obviously been designed by geeks who haven't considered that people might not have a clue what all the jargon means

oh and I think I needed something called AVI too – but handbrake told me to download that as part of the process (Ithink)