If you are like me and are planning on picking up one of the new iPod 's in the coming weeks you are probably already thinking about how to get all of your video ready for the player. With videos in numerous formats and resolutions, most of your movies will have to be converted before they can be imported into iTunes and onto your iPod. For everyone producing their own content on a Mac in Final Cut you can easily use all of you FCP project files to export a new iPod friendly version of your work. Simply make sure you have updated to QuickTime 7.0.3 and there will now be a new iPod preset in the QuickTime Conversion window. I gave it a quick test in FCP 4.5 HD and it worked great, I would assume Final Cut Xpress will have the same preset (can anyone confirm this) though iMovie users will not be as lucky and will still have to convert their video separately.

Two other conversion guides have hit the web and should take care of any other conversion needs you may have, though they use all OSX software so they are only for the Mac crowd. The first guide is specifically for ripping DVD's into H.264 and uses both MacTheRipper and Handbrake, both well known to the Mac community and free. The next guide focuses on converting all your various movies from multiple codec’s into iPod friendly formats. I personally used the guides to do a few tests and they worked flawlessly, I have not seen any guides for PC users yet so if you have drop us a line.