If you haven’t already bought an iPod or are considering buying one, I would suggest you give the Creative Zen W Vision some serious consideration.

• Much wider screen
• Supports many file formats. You don’t have to convert everything you own to .mp4
• Has FM radio and a voice recorder

Still going ahead/stuck with an iPod? Be prepared to spend a lot of time doing file format conversions. And go for the model with the most storage. Believe me, you’ll run out of space before you know it.

Convert Music:

• AltoMP3Gold converts most common and some not so common audio formats to .MP3. Downside: Shareware. Only converts 3 files at a time in the free version.

Convert Video:

1. Use PocketDivXEncoder to convert most video formats to .AVI.
2. Then use 3GP_Converter or VideoraiPodConverter to convert the .AVI files to .MP4 for the iPod.

The good thing about these two tools is that they are portable and do not need to be installed on to a machine. Therefore, it’s a good idea to carry them around in your iPod so you can use them on the go.

Convert DVDs:

1. Use DVD Decrypter to extract .VOB files. This tool is particularly useful if you want to retain subtitles.
2. Follow steps 1 and 2 above with the .VOB files.

The above tools are mainly for Windows. Now that I have switched over to Linux, (Ubuntu Feisty Fawn on a 64 bit AMD Turion laptop) I’m looking into viable Linux solutions. Suggestions?