How to convert DVD video YouTube iTunes to Zune

Below is the step by step tutorial about how to transfer DVD movies and TV shows, videos, YouTube and Google videos, iTunes DRM protected music to Microsoft Zune.

Before getting started, let's take a look at the audio and video formats Microsoft Zune recognizes:

Audio Support
Windows Media Audio Standard (WMA) (.wma); WMA Lossless; Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov); MP3 (.mp3).

Video Support
Windows Media Video (WMV) (.wmv); MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2 video; H.264 video; DVR-MS.

So, you see, in order to put DVD movies and TV shows, video files and YouTube and Google video onto Zune, you will need a converter that will go from DVD and video to Zune WMV or MP4 (Video) or Zune WMA or MP3 (Audio). This kind of program can only rip the DVD's or convert the video files to your PC, however, Microsoft offers Zune users the free program called "Zune Software" to sync the media from PC to Zune. You just need to download it from its official website http://www.zune.net , where you can get the most detailed information about Zune as well.

In this tutorial, I'd like to demonstrate how to rip DVD's and convert videos to Zune using Clone2Go DVD to Zune Converter. The reason I choose it lies in that, unlike other DVD to Zune converters that can rip only DVD movies for Zune, this DVD to Zune converter can also be used to convert regular video files to Zune. Plus, it allows you to download videos from YouTube and Google and then convert YouTube FLV videos to some format accepted by Zune. Let's take a look at how it performs:

1. Add DVD movies or TV shows

Insert the DVD disc into the disc drive, click the Open DVD button to import it if you are going to enjoy the DVD movie on your Zune. Or if the DVD movie is saved as a folder on your computer, you need to click the Add Video button to locate that folder, which is composed of two separate folders: VIDEO_TS and AUIDO_TS. From the VIDEO_TS folder, select the .vob file to import and then click OK.



2. Import video files

You can also import videos stored on your PC by clicking the Add Video button and then click OK. The supporting formats are shown as follows:



3. Download YouTube or Google videos

If you want to enjoy online YouTube or Google videos on your Zune, click the YouTube button on the main interface. In the pop-up window, copy and paste the URLs of the YouTube videos one by one.



There will be a list of the added YouTube videos, which will be downloaded automatically one by one. And the downloading status is clearly shown on the list. After the status of all of them indicates Completed, you can tick whichever videos you want to watch on your Zune.



After the DVD's, videos or YouTube/Google videos are imported, you can preview it on the main interface. If you only want a clip of the DVD/video, you can drag the Start to trim and Stop to trim button to get the certain segment.

After making sure you have chosen the right profile from the Profile drop-down list, now you can click the Start Encode button to starting ripping DVD movies or TV shows, converting videos or downloading and converting online YouTube/Google videos for your Zune.

4. Convert iTunes M4P music to Zune

The music downloaded from iTunes Store is under DRM protection. In order to play it on your Zune, you need to strip the DRM off and have the iTunes protected AAC (M4P) music converted to Zune WMA or MP3 format. The easiest way is to burn the iTunes M4P playlist to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make an audio CD and then use some CD ripper software to convert the audio CD track back to MP3. And iTunes allows you to burn the protected music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make a standard audio CD:

A. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive. You'd better use CD-RW disc as it can be used for more than once.
B. Create a new playlist in iTunes. Add the protected songs to your playlist until you have 72 minutes of music. Click the Burn Disc button, in the pop-up window of Burn Settings, tick Audio CD from the Disc Format checkboxes. Note: You cannot select the MP3 CD option since it requires the protected music files be converted to unprotected MP3 or WMA files.
C. After the audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes or Windows Media Player to import the music tracks on the burned disc to MP3 or WMA files.

Best free tools to convert audio/video/image/document

There are numerous tools available which you can free download in order to convert your audio, video, image or documents to some other format. Here I'd like to share some of them below:

1. Clone2Go Video Converter Free

The detailed info about Clone2Go Video Converter Free is available here.

2. Clone2Go Audio Converter Free

- Extract the unprotected sound tracks easily from video clips such as AVI, WMV and MPEG
- Convert the audio to different formats such as WAV, WMA, OGG, MP3 and AAC
- Extract sound tracks from videos at high speed with satisfactory quality of output audio files - Multi-select files for batch conversion
- Customize output video frame size
(From the web)

To convert your media online and receive it on your mail the following four are the best services that I tried testing:

3. ZamZar

- Supports compressed archives .zip, .rar, .tar, .tgz etc
- All popular video, audio and image formats along with documents including .docx, .xlsx etc. - Also supports downloading of videos into some other format directly from a website. You’ll receive the converted videos in your emails.
- Allows you to manage your files with its own File Manager tool but you need to sign up for it.

4. Media-Convert

- Recipient of 2006 Web user award.
- Supports docs, pdf, open office, Microsoft documents and all popular formats.
- Archives – rar, zip, tar etc
- Videos – mp4, mpg, avi, wmv etc along with video presets for Windows, Mac, Linux, Nokia phones, ipod, iphones, Sony PSP, Wii, Zune and mp4 players.
- Almost all popular image formats are supported.
- Option to split media files.
- 150 MB allowable size for any media.
- Also lists the format supported on most popular phones of the world.

5. YouConvertIt

- Excellent Web 2.0 interface.
- Sends you the converted files in your mail.
- Option to download video from Youtube, Google Videos and Metacafe directly as .flv or to convert them in a different file format and mail them to you.
- Supports documents doc, xls, ppt etc but doesn’t support docx,xlsx
- All popular audio formats are supported

6. MediaConverter

- Supports only common files including 3gp, avi, flv, mp4, mp3, wmv, wav, ogg, pdf, doc, xls, ppt and few more files.
- Allows you to directly convert files from portals like Youtube, metacafe, Blip.tv, Break.com into various video formats and you can download them instantly after the conversion.
- Allows you to change the bitrate of audio and videos and customizing codecs etc.

Clone2Go releases super DVD ripper-video converter and YouTube downloader features supported

Clone2Go DVD Ripper(http://www.clone2go.com/products/dvdtoripper.php) is the most powerful software specially designed for ripping DVD's and converting video files to all popular video/audio formats for playback on all popular entertainment devices such as iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod classic, iPhone, PSP, Apple TV, Zune, Creative Zen, BlackBerry, mobile phone and so on.

With the DVD ripping feature, Clone2Go DVD Ripper can rip all kinds of DVD movies to all popular video formats such as MPEG, AVI, 3GP, WMV and FLV and audio formats such as MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, AMR and MP2. As a video converter, it can convert almost all video formats including MPEG, WMV, RM, RMVB, MOV, VOB, DivX, XviD, AVI to MPEG-4 or MPEG movie formats for MP4 player, iPod, smart phone or any other video/audio formats for various media players.

Clone2Go DVD Ripper can help to download FLV videos from YouTube website and then convert FLV to any other video/audio format you need.



Key features of Clone2Go DVD Ripper:

1. Clone2Go DVD Ripper is equipped with a user-friendly interface and an easy-to-use style, bringing convenience to users.
2. Supported input media formats: DVD, MOV, WMV, FLV, MPEG-4, MPG, RM, RMVB, AVI, DivX, XviD, VOB, ASF, DV, 3GP, M1V and M2V.
3. Supported output media formats:
video: AVI, WMV, MP4, 3GP, FLV, MPG, MPEG4, MPEG and MPEG-II;
Audio: MP3, WAV, OGG, AMR and MP2.
4. Download FLV videos from YouTube website and convert FLV videos.
5. Rip DVD, convert video(including online YouTube video) to the specific video/audio format for iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Zune, Creative Zen, mobile phone, etc.
6. Support video source from DV video.
7. Change video and audio properties independently, customize output video frame size, split files into smaller parts, etc.
8. Extract audio from DVD movies or video files.
9. The professional package software that bundles DVD ripper, video converter and YouTube downloader/converter rather than a simple DVD ripper.

Availability and Price

Clone2Go DVD Ripper is available at http://www.clone2go.com/products/dvdtoripper.php. You can free download Clone2Go DVD Ripper from http://www.clone2go.com/down/dvd-ripper-setup.exe for a try. And it costs USD39.95 to register the full version.

If you have questions concerning Clone2Go DVD Ripper, please feel free to contact us via clone2go.support@gmail.com . We are dedicated to providing you with the best product.

How to Enjoy DVD/Video/YouTube/iTunes/WMA on Mobile Phone

Apart from the basic functions of calling and SMS, a mobile phone is also a pretty good multimedia player, which enables you to play games, enjoy videos and music and browse images etc., so long as the media is accepted by the specific phone. In order to know which formats the specific phone accepts, you can make a simple Google search or visit the tech specs page in the official website of the phone.

If you want to enjoy DVD movies on your mobile phone, you have to get a DVD ripping program to help you rip the DVD movies to the format (MP4, 3GP, AVI, etc.) supported by your phone. Here, I'd recommend using Clone2Go DVD Ripper, which I have been using for a long time. The main reason I am fond of it is that, apart from the DVD ripping feature, it also serves as an all-in-one video converter. Plus, it allows you to download videos from YouTube.com and convert YouTube FLV videos to any other video format you need. So this DVD ripper can help you rip DVD movies to mobile phone video, convert any video to mobile phone video and even convert online YouTube video for your mobile phone. However, it is not free. It does cost you USD39.95 to register the full version. And there really exist many counterpart freewares to do so. Yet, it is well worth a try if you want to avoid the trouble of getting these programs from time to time. Here is the screenshot I captured from Clone2Go DVD Ripper.



Personally speaking, due to the narrow screen, I don't like playing games or videos with my mobile phone. However, I do enjoy listening to all kinds of music with my mobile phone. If you have downloaded songs from a CD or a shareware site like Limewire, you can easily put them on your mobile phone. However, any song you purchased directly from iTunes store will not play on your phone, due that it is encrypted by DRM. I have found the easiest way is to burn the music to an audio CD and then rip it back to Windows Media Player or a similar program as an MP3. And Wordpress has a little tutorial that shows how to get MP3 files from iTunes DRM protected AAC (M4P) music in two different ways. One is to burn an audio CD in iTunes and then rip the CD back to MP3 as I mentioned. The other is to use a program called TuneClone, a piece of software that works extremely great for converting a large collection of DRM protected iTunes music to MP3, with the metadata of the music well preserved at the same time. Together with Windows Media Player, TuneClone can also help you get DRM protected WMA (Windows Media Audio) music converted to MP3 for your mobile phone.

At last you can get a microSD card, with which you can transfer the videos and music to your phone to enjoy them wherever you go. Of course, you can also get some software to help you transfer the output files from your PC to your phone. Many of them are available online.