How To Encode Videos for Your iPod

This works for any media device, or if you you just want to convert video files to other formats.

We're going to use the command line conversion tool ffmpeg, it's incredibly fast and does a great job. Don't be scared, because we also going to install and use a GUI for the ffmeg tools so we can convert video with a pretty interface.

First thing we have to do is install the version of ffmeg that allows encoding in mp4. To do this we need to install the Medibuntu repository.

This will add the Medibuntu repository to your repository lists
In a terminal type:
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Then you have to add the GPG Key to authentic the packages
In a terminal type:
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
Now update your system to load the Medibuntu repository into your apt-get sources
sudo apt-get update

Now download the Medibuntu version of ffmeg that allows for mp4 encoding/converting video for your iPod
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
You may have to update your system again
In a terminal type:
sudo apt-get update

Now we can convert video for your iPod. FFmpeg is a command line tool and is a bit difficult for seasoned command line warriors to use. In order to make things as easy and simple we can download a GUI (graphical user interface) for the ffmpeg tools.

WinFF is a cross platform batch GUI for FFMPEG. It will convert most any video file that FFmpeg will convert. WinFF does multiple files in multiple formats at one time. You can for example convert mpeg's, flv's, and mov's, all into avi's all at once.

Download WinFF 0.31 for Ubuntu Here this is for the 32 bit version

Once your download completes, double click the winff-0.31-i386.deb to install it onto your system.

To run WinFF go to Applications>Sound & Video>WinFF

You should see this:



You can select options in the upper right corner of WinFF and a drop down menu will appear and you will see this:



You can choose where you want the files you are converting to be saved as well as what format you want to convert to. I choose usually use the XviD for iPod or H.264 High Quality settings. I find XviD for iPod encodes faster and gives excellent picture quality.

You can also go to WinnFF>Edit>Preferences to futher customize WinFF.



Anyone running a dual processor will want to check the box off that says, "Multithreadng for Dual Core Processors"

Have Fun!

edited by pHreaksYcle

Using Your Apple iPod in Ubuntu

This guide works with all iPods models except iPod classics, iPod Video Nano and iPod Touch. Apple has updated it's cryptographic "checksum" in their song databases for these models. This means third-party applications are no longer able to sync your music, video & pictures to these devices. The good news is that the older iPods are fully compatible with 3rd party applications.

I love my iPod and I love Ubuntu so these guides are definitely a labor of love for me. I find that the iPod works great in Ubuntu. I use 3 programs in Ubuntu for syncing my iPod; gtkpod, GPixPod and Amarok.

gtkpod
gtkpod is a platform independent Graphical User Interface for Apple's iPod using GTK2. It supports the first to fifth Generation including the iPod mini, iPod Photo, iPod Shuffle, iPod nano, and iPod Video. It allows you to sync you iPod in Linux. Some of it's features include importing the existing contents of your iPod including play counts, ratings and on-the-go playlists, adding MP3, WAV, M4A, M4B, podcasts, and video files to your iPod and allowing you to view, add and modify cover art and playlists.


To get gtkpod
in a terminal type:
sudo apt-get install gtkpod-aac

GPixPod
GPixPod is a new PyGTK application to organize photos and photo albums on your photo capable iPod models. Its approach to modify manually the elements in the Photo Database of your iPod could be also more useful than the syncing-only method of iTunes. For Linux users gpixpod is an excellent complement to gtkpod and amarok. While these two programs do an excellent job of syncing music, album art and video to your iPod neither do pictures and I haven't been able to find another program in Linux/Ubuntu that does all four; music, video, album art and pictures.

To get gpixpod
In a terminal type:
sudo apt-get install gpixpod

Amarok
Amarok a fantasic music player for Linux and Unix with an intuitive interface. Amarok not only makes playing the music you love easy, but also allows you to organize a library of music into folders according to genre, artist, and album, edit tags attached to most music formats, associate album art, attach lyrics, and automatically "score" music as you play it. It is seen as Linux's major iTunes alternative and in many people's opinions an iTunes killer. It allows you to look up album via Amazon, sync music, podcasts and audiobooks. Amarok does not do video or pictures, but it's such an amazing jukebox that I don't mind using other apps to take care of it's shortcomings.

To get Amarok, ipod support and mp3 support
In a terminal type:
sudo apt-get install amarok ipodslave libxine1-ffmpeg

edited by pHreaksYcle