DVD movies on your iPod?

Q: I have a bunch of DVDs that I would like to watch on my video iPod. iTunes doesn’t seem to recognize the DVD. How do I get my DVDs on to my iPod?

A: Let me start by saying that it is no surprise that you are having difficulty getting your DVDs on to your iPod. There are a lot of people out there that want it this way. That being said, it can be done but there are a couple of considerations you have to take into account when trying to get your DVD movies on to your iPod.

The first is that if the DVD is a commercial DVD that you purchased in a store, it most likely has copy protection on it. Because of this copy protection you cannot simply “rip” a DVD to your computer like you do with an audio CD.

However, there are several software packages available free on the Internet that you can download and install that will remove the copy protection from the DVD. As you might have guessed these software packages are not very popular with the movie industry but most of them are still available because they claim the software’s main function is to assist people with making a backup copy of their own DVDs.

You need to be careful here. If you use these software packages for anything other than your own personal use, you could get into big trouble real fast.

Rather than mention specific titles for these software packages, let me suggest that you just do a Google search for “rip DVD to iPod”. The search results should give you plenty of options.

Also, keep in mind that DVDs often have all kinds of bonus features on them. Because you only want the main movie on your iPod you will probably want to choose the biggest file on the DVD when the software asks you which part of the DVD you want to rip.

Once the DVD has been ripped to an iPod compatible format, it’s just a matter of adding the ripped video file to your iTunes library where it will subsequently show up in the videos section in iTunes.

Lastly, because the video files are generally very large, you may want to check your synchronization settings next time you hook up your iPod to your computer to make sure that your new video is flagged to be synchronized to your iPod.

This post was originally broadcast Friday, August 24, 2007 on Tech Talk with Noobie, a weekly radio show on WCBK 102.3 FM in Martinsville, Indiana. Tech Talk with Noobie airs every Friday between 11:30 a.m. and noon. If you have a question you would like Noobie to answer on the air, simply e-mail your question to .