The article includes ten most parts, it includes all common problems about iPod; it fits for all series of iPod including iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Video, etc. You can also find some free sources for iPod from this article.
Part 1: How to download and convert YouTube video to iPod for free?
Part 2: How to copy music and photos from my iPod to computer?
Part 3: How to rip DVD movie and convert video to iPod (Windows User)?
Part 4: How to rip DVD movie and convert video iPod (Mac User)?
Part 5: How can I watch my iPod movie on large screen TV?
Part 6: How to manager two iPods on one computer or transfer music between iPods?
Part 7: Where can I found some cool themes for my iPod Touch or iPhone?
Part 8: Where to download free music and video for iPod?
Part 9: How to install applications on iPod Touch and iPhone for free?
Part 10: How to hack iPod to play games and music video?
Part 1: How to convert YouTube video to iPod for free
There must be some wonderful videos you’ve ever watched on YouTube and want to put them on your iPod. But iPod can play only MP4 video, and YouTube video is FLV, you have to download and convert YouTube video to MP4 video at first, then you can add it into your iTunes library and sync to your iPod.
There are many online video converters can help you do that job for free, we take vixy.net for example this time.
Step1. Open this website: http://vixy.net . Then go to YouTube and find a video that you love. Copy the video URL that in the Red box. Like this format: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs
Step2. Paste your video file URL to the input box, select “MP4 for iPod/PSP” as the output format, then wait for the conversion, this flv converter can also help you rip YouTube video to MP3 audio.
Step3. When the conversion finished, we got the download link of the output video. Click it to download the video and save in your computer, then open iTunes and drag the video into your iTunes library, sync your iPod, done.
Part 2: How to copy music and photos from my iPod to computer
Sometime we lost iTunes library or want to copy files from other iPod back to computer, because iTunes prevents user do that, you need special software to bypass iTunes. I’d recommend Tansee iPod Copy Pack to you, It is a life saver when
– Sending your iPod for repair.
– Backup song/video/photo to PC.
– Moving song/video/photo to a new iPod.
– Share your iPod song/video/photo with friends.
– Computer crashed.
If Tansee doesn’t help, you can try this iPod Computer Transfer, it fully supports all series of iPod and iPhone, and it’s also a nice iTunes alternative which can help you create playlist and sync music and video to iPod.
Part 3: How to rip DVD movie and convert video to iPod (Windows User)
iPod can only play MP4 and H.264 video, but DVD movie is MPEG-2 video and CSS protected, you need an application to rip DVD and convert video to MP4 video, and then sync it to iPod via iTunes. I strongly recommend Aimersoft iPod Converter Suite; it can rip protected DVD and convert limewire, YouTube video, AVI, MPEG, WMV, MOV, FLV, XviD video to iPod. And from my tests, it fully supports all series of iPod including iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video.
1. Download and install Aimersoft iPod Converter Suite, run the DVD to iPod Converter, click “Load DVD” to browse your computer and load the DVD files.
2. Click the “Format” combo-box to select one according to your iPod name, and then select the subtitle, audio you prefer and start the conversion.
3. Open iTunes and click “File” to add your converted videos, plug in your iPod to computer, then iTunes will detect your iPod as a device. Select your iPod device on the left panel of iTunes, click “Movies” tab, check the videos you want to sync and click “Apply”, done.
If you want more DVD to iPod Converters, I think this DVD to iPod Review would help you a lot.
Troubleshooting (Windows)
1. Why occurs a message: ‘MPEG2Dec: Error during decoder initialization’ or ‘unable to read from E:\VIDEO_TS\vts_01_1.vob’ every time I put any DVD in?
First, check that you select the correct DVD driver. If not, please select the correct DVD driver path.
Second, quite a few users encountered this error and have solved by using PQ DVD to iPod Video Converteror dvdXsoft DVD to iPod Ripper, Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter. Please download to try out.
2. Why your iTunes converted video has no sound
Because iTunes cannot convert muxed video (the audio and video of a muxed video file are on the same track), muxed video converted by iTunes will lose sound. You can learn more about this issue from apple’s official document
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302588
If you come across this problem, you can refer to Part 3, the iPod converter that I recommend can deal with muxed video with no problem.
3. Still doesn’t Work
If DVD/Video to iPod conversion doesn’t work, please post your problems here and I will solve ASAP. I am glad to help.
iPod official support page: http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/
iTunes official support page: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/
Part 4: How to rip DVD movie and convert video to iPod (Mac)
As for Mac user, I’d recommend iSkysoft iPod Converter Suite for Mac to you, the operation steps are similar to Aimersoft, so I am not repeat here. It has two versions for both Intel Mac and Power PC Mac. You can free download it from here. For more info about it, here is a step by step guide about how to use it.
Part 5. How can I watch my iPod movie on large screen TV
Set up your iPod video options. On your iPod choose Videos -> Video Settings from the main menu. You will see three options: TV Out, TV Signal and Widescreen. Select the “TV Out” option.
Get your A/V cable. If you don’t have an eighth-inch-to-RCA cable, you can pick one up on eBay for five or six bucks shipped. Search for “camcorder A/V cable.” Remember, you want a three-plug yellow/red/white RCA connection at one end and a three-banded eighth-inch (3.5mm) A/V plug at the other.
1. Plug the red RCA plug into your TV’s yellow RCA jack.
2. Plug the yellow RCA plug into your TV’s white RCA jack.
3. Plug the white RCA plug into your TV’s red RCA jack.
After making these connections, you’re physically ready to begin playback.
Part6. How to manager two iPods on one computer or transfer music between iPods
Actually, you can manage more than one iPod on the same computer.
Method1. Create multi accounts on one computer, one account for each person to login OS and sync his/her iPod with iTunes.
Method2. Set your iPod to “Manually manage music and video”, and then create a new iTunes playlist for each iPod that contains all the music that you want to send to that particular iPod.
As for transferring music between different iPods, you need a special application to do that, I have tried a program named iPod2iPod, it can successfully transfer my friend’s iPod music to my iPod, and here is a guide about it:
https://www.freedvdripper.net/how-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-another-ipod.html
Part7. Where can I found some cool themes for my iPhone or iPod Touch
If you sick of your iPod or iPhone default theme and want to customize it, you can find some free cool themes from
http://www.mac-dvd.com/free-iphone-themes.html
And it has a detailed guide to teach you how to put the themes on your iPod, it’s easy to understand, I’m sure you can handle it.
Part8. Where to download music and movie for iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
1. iTunes store: $0.99 for one song, $9.99 for one movie, $1.99 for one TV show.
2. Limewire is fast and popular file sharing freeware working on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Through the P2P (peer-to-peer) network, you can free download various files by its category or keyword searching. Here is a step by step guide will teach you how to use limewire to download video to iPod.
3. Other stream video website such as Yahoo, MySpace, etc. here is a list of free stream video website http://www.mac-dvd.com/free-movies-music-video-download-websites.html
And you can refer the part 1 of this guide to download stream video to iPod.
Part9. How to install applications on iPod Touch and iPhone for free
Before Apple released the iPhone SDK, you have to jailbreak your iPod Touch or iPhone to install free software or play funny game. And here is a step by step guide will teach you how to do that.
Part10. How to hack iPod to play games and music video
This part is mainly for the old version iPod, coz the new series of iPods can directly play video and game and you don’t need to hack them. If you want to hack your iPod to play Doom 3, you have to install iPod Linux on your iPod, here is iPod Linux official installation guide
http://ipodlinux.org/Installation_from_Windows
Or you can take a look at this guide, which I think is more intuitional:
http://www.youtubetoipod.biz/guide/ipod-linux-on-ipod-nano-play-music-video.html
Note: It can be pretty complicated to install iPod Linux on iPod, so give it a serious consideration before you do that.