The Last iPod Video Guide You’ll Ever Need, at Plastic Bugs, via BrainLog.

UPDATE: Geez, that’s a pretty intimidating page for a non-technical user. Apple (or someone) could make a killing by releasing a conversion app that really truly doesn’t require a whit of oversight. Let’s see, how would it work?

My theoretical user would presumably understand using an iPod as a music playback device. Therefore the video usage procedure should be entirely analogous. My user inserts a video source such as a DVD or locates a video source such as a downloaded rip of the Daily Show. Then, the user drags the source to “Library” in iTunes, and the material is added. iTunes should broker any conversion, if neccessary, and the conversion settings should be tweakable in the iTunes preferences panes.

I would guess that a conversion dialog might be presented at the time the user drags the content over, asking if the conversion should take place as fast as possible or run more slowly, in the background, since ripping video is so timeconsuming on this generation of hardware.

Additionally, if the video source is a DVD, if possible, the raw DVD video should be copied in entirety to the local drive, allowing the user to eject the disc more rapidly than if the conversion process were to be based directly on the data stored on the optical disc.