Razzberry Bytes - DVDs to MP4s to iPod

I have decided to make a technical section here in Razzberry Corner, named Razzberry Bytes.  I'm into keeping it simple. This is the first official post in Razzberry Bytes.  I'm going to discuss technical issues, things we've all experienced, about computers and tablets, maybe even about our blog hosting programs, etc.  I welcome all feedback.  We all need to know about computer-related issues.  I don't think this will be a big part of Razzberry Corner, but it's just a way to separate out the technical posts.  Let's get started!

 I have the Beachbody Insanity workout on DVD, which I love, by the way.  You're supposed to follow one DVD every day.  However, I hate lugging around the DVDs when I travel, and I travel extensively for work.  When my friend in Japan saw my box of DVDs in my suitcase she laughed out loud at me. I also lug around a full size Windows OS laptop while I travel, and play the DVDs in the laptop.  More to follow in a later post on my recent quest to downsize the laptop to a tablet or ultrabook...

And so I decided to transfer the DVDs to the laptop.  I installed WinX Free DVD to MP4 Ripper by Digiarty, which I easily downloaded.  There's a ton of programs out there that will do the same job, the one I used worked fine for me.  The WinX Free DVD to MP4 Ripper read the tracks on the DVD.  I told it where I wanted to place the newly created MP4 files.  It didn't take that long at all and it created beautiful streamlined MP4 movies for me to play on the computer.  There were several options in the program if I wanted to tweak it, or I could leave it on the default settings. No more lugging around DVDs!

Since that was so easy, I got the idea that since I carry around an iPod everywhere I go, I should put the MP4 files there, too.  My iPod is 64GB, it has plenty of space available.  I know the workout, I've done it a lot, I don't need a big screen.  Sometimes it's cumbersome to carry the laptop to the gym if it's just me doing the workout.  So I copied the MP4 files to my iTunes Library on the computer, and they showed up under movies.  Excellent.  Then I tried to drag them from my Library Movies to my iPod below in iTunes, and it said they were not in the right format.  After a couple minutes research I realized in iTunes I had to click on the movie in the Library, click Advanced, then create iPod or iPhone version.  There also was an option to create an iPad or Apple TV version.  Now this conversion takes a while.  I think it takes the same amount of time that it would take to play the video.  Then, in the Library Movies section, I had 2 copies of each movie.  I dragged the newly created iPod formatted one to the iPod.  I could have synced up the iPod, but syncing takes a while and I didn't want to mess with any other files.  To me it's easier just to drag the new files where I want them.

There you have it.  All in all, it was a piece of cake to make MP4 files from the DVDs.  Those MP4s played perfectly on the computer.  It was slower but still not complicated to get those MP4s onto my iPod.  In iTunes I made sure to name the video files how I wanted them named.  It renamed them all to "insanity" and I renamed each file to be the specific workout name.

Hope this task is as easy for you!