iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Chapter 6. iPod Multimedia

You can listen to more than just music on your iPod; you can also listen to podcasts, audio books, recorded radio shows, and even certain magazines and newspapers read aloud for your listening pleasure. And if you’ve got a color-screen iPod (including the Nano), you can up your multimedia arsenal even further because you can use your iPod to look at digital photos on the go. If you have one of those video-enabled iPods, you can watch music videos, animated shorts, and TV shows from the iTunes Store, plus film trailers, home movies, and other digital videos in your collection. This chapter explores the iPod’s other treats for your ears and eyes.

Watching Video

In October 2005, a longtime industry rumor came true: Apple finally launched the iPod’s video-playing era. These new models (the fifth generation, if you’re keeping score at home) can play videos on their gorgeous color screens, so you can while away office lunch hours, breaks between classes, and interminable bus rides by watching TV shows in the palm of your hand. This section shows you where to find video files and how to juggle them between computer and iPod, as well as how you can convert digital movies for screening on your own Shirt Pocket Cinema.

Finding Video for the iPod

When Apple rolled out the new video iPods, it made sure to serve up some video content for folks to play on the newfangled devices. As explained in Chapter 7, the iTunes Music Store now sells music videos, classic Pixar cartoons, ...