Chapter 8. Videos Everywhere

Video-playing iPods have been around since October 2005, when Apple’s standard iPod arrived on the scene with a video chip inside. Fast-forward a few years, and moving pictures have also come to the squat, third-generation iPod Nano and the brand-new iPod Touch. With its high-resolution 3.5-inch screen, the Touch seems like it was made to play video, even though it does music and the Web just fine, too.

No matter which iPod you’re using, you’re not stuck just watching two- or three-minute music video clips, either. As explained in the previous chapter, the iTunes Store has all kinds of cinematic goodies to buy: full-length Hollywood movies, episodes (or entire seasons) of certain TV shows, and yes, thousands of music videos, just like the kind MTV used to play back when it showcased videos.

This chapter shows you how to get those videos from computer to iPod—and how to enjoy them on your own Shirt Pocket Cinema.

Add Videos to iTunes

The iTunes Store is chock full of videos you can buy. But sometimes you’ve got your own flicks you want to add to iTunes. No problem. Just drag the file’s icon from your desktop and drop it anywhere in iTunes’ main window, or choose File→Add to Library to locate and import your files. Once you get videos into iTunes, you can play them in iTunes or copy them to your iPod.

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Movies and TV shows have their own icons in the Source pane’s ...

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