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iMovie is one of the most popular video editing programs on Mac OS X. It’s intuitive and easy to comprehend, so you don’t need to be an expert on video editing to make a home video or create your own movie project. iMovie has greatly enriched people’s digital life.

iMovie accepts video formats including MPEG-2 and AVCHD, DV-Standard and HDV (High Definition Video), QuickTime Movie and MPEG-4. If the format of the video is among the above-mentioned video formats, you can easily import it to Apple iMovie project: (1) Launch iMovie, go to “file > import movies”, (2) Browse through movies to find the videos you want. Click “import”.

Many popular video formats such as M2TS, AVI, WMV and FLV are not supported by iMovie. To import these videos to iMovie, you need to convert them to iMovie compatible format. The following step by step guide focuses on how to convert M2TS to MPEG-4 for importing to Apple iMovie project using Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac.

Step 1. Launch Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac. Load M2TS video. ( free download )

Step 2. Select “MPEG-4″ from output format list

Tips 1. Trim video files

If you want only part of the video to be imported to iMovie, click the ‘Trim’ button to open the Trim window, then set the start time and end time by dragging the start time and End Time slider to convert a clip from the video.

Tips 2. Crop Movie Video

If you want to remove the black edges or just convert part of the video area from your video file, you can click the “Crop” button and specify an area either by dragging the frame around the video or setting the crop values.

Tips 3. Video Effect

If you want to adjust the video effect of your movie, you can click the “Effect” button and drag each effect adjustment slider to set the video brightness, contrast, saturation and video volume. You can also choose a special effect from the Effect drop-down list to apply to your movie.

Step 3. When the setting is done, start converting by clicking “Convert”.

Step 4. When the conversion is done, launch iMovie, go to “File > Import movies”. Select the converted MP4 video and click “Import”.

That’s it! Now you can edit M2TS videos in iMovie. Enjoy making your own movies!

The iPod nano will now feature a built-in camera, as Apple updated its iPod line as part of a music-focused press event in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The new iPod comes in 8GB and 16GB models, priced at $149 and $179, respectively. The music players now feature a video camera and microphone on the back of the device along with a built-in speaker. The nano can display video or sync it back to your computer for uploading to YouTube.

According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs—making his first public appearance at an Apple event since returning from a six-month medical leave—the company added the camera to the nano line to capitalize on the popularity of pocket-sized flash-based video cameras.

The following tutorial is going to show you how to rip DVD and convert video to all sorts of video and audio formats on Mac OS X (including Snow Leopard) using only one tool – iSkysoft iMedia Converter for Mac. It also shows several tips and tricks you can’t miss out on while using this iMedia Converter to rip DVD and convert video on your Mac machine.

Step 1. Download iSkysoft iMedia Converter for Mac, install and launch it.

Free Download ( Intel Version | Power PC Version )

Step 2. Add DVD or Video

You can click “Load DVD” button to load DVD or click “Add Video” to import video files for conversion.

After a DVD or several video files are imported successfully, you can see all of them listed in the program:

Step 3. Output Settings

Choose the output format you want. After you choose a format from the “Profile” list, it is the time to check out the Setting panel:

Profile: Click here to know which formats Total Media Converter supports.
Settings -> Video: Set video encoding settings by selecting a resolution, a frame rate, a video encoder and a bit rate.
Settings -> Audio: Set audio encoding settings by selecting a sample rate, an audio channel, an audio encoder and a bit rate.

Tip:
You can customize the video and audio encoding settings and save them as your own profile. After you have chosen the encoding options, just click the “Save as” button and name your profile, and then the profile will be saved in the “User Defined” list. You can use the customized profile next time by selecting it from the list.

Apply to All: Check this option to apply the current profile to all the files.
Merge into one file: Check this option and the program will convert all the selected video files into a single file.

Step 4. Start Conversion

After all the necessary settings and editing job, the last step is clicking the “Start” button to start ripping DVD and convert video on your Mac machine with this powerful iMedia Converter for Mac.

Tips and Tricks:

Before clicking the “Start” button, you can do a lot more DVD/video editing jobs like DVD movie/video length trimming, video cropping, adding special effects, adding watermark, capturing images during previewing, etc. For example, If you want to capture a clip from the current title/chapter, you can click the “Edit” button to open the “Trim” window and trim the current title or chapter.

In Edit panel, there are 3 methods to do the trimming job:

1. Input value. Input certain time number in Set start time and Set end time fields manually.
2. Drag the sliders in the playback progress bar to set start time and end time quickly:
3. Insert trim start and end flags when you are previewing an video file in Edit panel.

Note: If you are using Windows OS, it is recommended you try Aimersoft Video Converter Pro to help you rip DVD and convert video to your iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, BlackBerry and a lot more mobile players.

According to CNET, Apple has obtained the rights to distribute ready-made ringtones for the iPhone.

Apple is apparently scrambling to have the ready-made ringtones available in time for their special event “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it” on September 9.

iPhone users can currently create a custom-made ringtone of up to 30 seconds using iTunes Ringtone editor and have to pay an additional cost of 99c for a song if they already have it or $1.98 in case they don’t. Apple had released this feature in September 2007.

The ready-made ringtones will make it very convenient for iPhone users who are too lazy to create their own custom ringtones.

Apple is expected to make an announcement about these ready-made ringtones at their special media event “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it” on September 9.

Here are some of the more interesting rumors and speculations for this year’s event.

Do you buy ringtones? Would you prefer creating your own custom ringtones or a ready-made ringtone?

The following guide is going to show you how to rip DVD’s to all sorts of video and audio formats on Mac OS X (including Snow Leopard) using iSkysoft DVD Ripper for Mac. It also shows several tips and tricks you need to pay attention to while using this Mac DVD Ripper to rip DVD on your Mac machine.

Step 1. Launch iSkysoft DVD Ripper for Mac and add DVD Movie

Free Download ( Intel Version | Power PC Version )

Click the “Load DVD” button, and navigate to the DVD folder of the movie you want to add from your hard disc or DVD-ROM, open DVD folder, select VIDEO_TS folder and click OK.

Or, click the “Load IFO” button, find the DVD folder of the movie you want to add from your hard disc or DVD-ROM, open your DVD folder, open the VIDEO_TS folder, select all IFO files and click OK.

After you add your movie, you can choose any titles or chapters you want to convert by ticking the check boxes before them. So that you can copy and convert the whole DVD movie or just convert the selected titles or chapters. You can choose to convert certain segment of the DVD movie using trim function.

Step 2. Output Settings

At the bottom of the main window, you can select a format according to the name of your player. For example, you can select ‘MOV-QuickTime (*.MOV)’ when you want to rip DVD to QuickTime on Mac, and the default setting works great. This DVD ripper for Mac can also rip DVD to MP4, AVI, M4V, 3GP, MPG, MPEG, FLV on Mac OS X and convert DVD from PAL to NTSC. You can select MOV or MP4 when you rip DVD to iMovie on Mac. iMovie supports MOV and MP4 video. It is easy to rip DVD to iMovie on Mac.

Step 3. Start Conversion

When output settings are done, click the “Convert” button to start converting your Movies. You can choose to shut down your computer or open the output folder after the conversion.

Tip & Trick 1. Trim movie clips

Tick the Check boxes of the chapters or titles you want to trim, and click the “Trim” button to open the Trim window below:

Drag the slider to set the starting time and ending time, click OK.

Note: You can preview the trimmed movie clip before conversion in preview window.

Tip & Tricks 2. Crop movie clips

Check the chapter or title you want to trim, and click the “Crop” button to open the Crop window.

Select an output aspect ratio and the available options are: Keep Original, full screen, 16:9 and 4:3.

Note: You can enter the crop values manually or drag the rectangular selection frame round the video to select the displaying area.

Tip & Trick 3. Merge several titles or chapters into one file

You’ll find “Merge into one file” at the bottom of the program window, after you select the titles and chapters you want to rip and finish the output settings, you can tick the check box of “Merge into one file” to merge several titles or chapters into one. This allows you to merge all movie titles into one output file so that you can enjoy a long movie without breaks.

It is recommended that you choose iSkysoft DVD Ripper Pack for Mac (discout suite) if you want to both rip DVD and convert video on your Mac machine.

Apple today announced that Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard users for $29.

By Prince McLean via link

A report filed by a tipster claiming access to iTunes 9 says that it is “possible” the next version of Apple’s media player will sport both DVD import and playback as well as Facebook integration, allowing users to advertise songs and playlists with their friends.

The report and screenshots were published by the Boy Genius Report, which earlier in the month wrote that iTunes 9 is expected to allow organization of iPhone apps and iPod games and indicated some sort of social media integration was in the cards.

The latest report includes screen shots that depict a Facebook category in the iTunes Source list, allowing users to advertise new song titles and playlists in their Facebook profile. Also included is a screen shot of how advertised tracks would appear on Facebook.

BGR also presents a screen shot of iTunes 9 that suggests the capability to sync music, video, podcast, and photo content to third party device, a Samsung YH-J70xx MP3 player. Apple has previously only signaled a disinterest in supporting sync with third party devices, actively halting the Palm Pre’s attempts to identify itself as an iPod.

More interesting are the depiction of buttons in the lower right that allow for DVD playback and import, suggesting that iTunes could do for DVDs what it got started doing for CDs. Were Apple to negotiate the right to rip DVDs, it would radically change the home movie industry in ways the industry has not demonstrated any interest in exploring. However, the addition of a “DVD Playback” button suggests that the screen shots are more likely to be fakes, as iTunes already has a playback button: “play.”

The studios have worked hard to thwart any commercial attempts to enable users to rip their own DVDs, recently filing an injunction against RealNetwork’s DVD Ripper software and even opposing a home theater installer from allowing users to rip their own DVDs for digital playback, despite the system not even producing an easy to distribute copy.

At Macworld Expo 2008, Apple announced having worked out a compromise with Twentieth Century Fox called Digital Copy for iTunes, which puts a mobile version of the movie on the DVD for use with iPods, the iPhone, Apple TV, and other media devices. Many new DVDs now include a Digital Copy of the movie, which doesn’t require any media ripping steps (transcoding and compression); instead, it simply initiates an iTunes download using a code included with the DVD.

Ripping an entire DVD (which includes defeating its copy protection and transcoding) would require Apple to obtain a special exemption from the DVD Forum license, something that hasn’t happened before. Similarly, the current DVD license also means that adding DVD playback to iTunes would require Apple to disable screen shots while the app was running, indicating that the screen shots of what appears to be iTunes playing a DVD would also need to be the product of a very relaxed DVD license or simply an outright fake.

Rumors also indicate Apple is gearing up to support Blu-ray playback, something that Apple has shown no interest in doing despite being an early member of the Blu-ray Disc Association and remaining one of its 19 board members. Blu-ray discs compete directly against Apple’s preferred model of selling and promoting digital downloads.

While Blu-ray offers major advantages for high end users in terms of audio quality and video resolution, Apple primarily sells devices that don’t really benefit from Blu-ray’s higher resolution, prompting Apple to leave the new disc technology to HDTV makers like Sony and LG to push.

Apple is expected to release a new update to its iPod lineup in its September 9 event, which will likely also include an updated version of iTunes and possibly the long anticipated Apple TV 3.0 update adding support for HTTP Live Streaming, which has already shipped as part of iPhone 3.0 and will be part of the new QuickTime X in Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

SoftDigg.com reviewd four iPod Video Converter Suite programs on Aug 18, 2009, at http://www.softdiggs.com/reviews/ipod-converter-suite-review.php. They are Cucusoft DVD to iPod Converter Suite, Aimersoft iPod Converter Suite, iSkysoft DVD to iPod Suite for Mac and Wondershare iPod Video Suite respectively.

Go and check out the details of the DVD to iPod Converter Suite software review and give a vote below:

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By TheGeek on July 31, 2009 via http://www.demogeek.com/2009/07/31/how-to-add-custom-ringtones-to-your-iphone/

The courterpart Windows guide is: http://www.softdiggs.com/howto/create-custom-iphone-3gs-ringtones-using-itunes.php

Note: If you want to avoid the trouble of making iPhone ringtones following the steps below, you can get this Mac iPhone Ringtone Maker to help you get ringtones for your iPhone on Mac OS.

Easily add custom ringtones to your iPhone using iTunes

The default ringtones that comes with the iPhone are pretty basic and blank. You can, instead, use your own piece of music as a ringtone on your iPhone. All you need to get this done is an iPhone, Connector Cable and iTunes.

Follow these (simple) steps to add a custom ringtone to your iPhone,

Start by choosing the .mp3 file that you’d like to have a piece of it as your ringtone. Remember that you cannot keep the full mp3 file as your ringtone, instead you can trim a portion of it to be used as a ringtone. The maximum allowed length of the ringtone can be less than 30 seconds.

Open the .mp3 file in iTunes. Right-click the .mp3 file and choose “Get Info“.

Once the Get Info dialog comes-up navigate to the Options tab. If you are using a short .mp3 file as your source then you might not want to touch any of the settings on this tab. But if you trying to extract a portion of the .mp3 file then you wanted to key-in values for the “Start Time” and “End Time” items. Keep in mind that the total length of the ringtone can only be less than 30 seconds.

How do you know the start and end times? Well, if you have Audacity installed then you should be able to grab the start and end time of your clip using Audacity’s trim feature.

Now we are ready to convert the file to a more friendly format that .mp3. Right-click on the same file again and choose the “Convert AAC Version” option.

If you don’t see the option on your right-click menu then go to iTunes > Preferences > General Tab and click on the “Import Settings…” button. Change the “Import Using” dropdown menu to “AAC Encoder“.

Once the file is converted to AAC version it generates a .m4a file. Drag the file to your Desktop (or any other location that you prefer).

Rename the .m4a file to .m4r file. If you have any questions on how to do it the safest way to do is to right-click the .m4a file and choosing the “Get Info” option.

On the dialog that comes up change the extension of the file to .m4r and confirm the rename.

Before you proceed any further you should remove the AAC version of the file that’s on your iTunes.

Now, move the .m4r file that’s on the desktop to the Ringtones folder on iTunes.

Now it’s all pretty much set for you to make use of the custom ringtone. Connect your iPhone and do a Sync.

Once successfully synced, tap on your iPhone Settings app.

Tap on the “Sounds” option.

Then tap on the “Ringtone” option.

iPhone will now display the list of available ringtones and you should be able to see the newly added ringtone at the top of the page under the “Custom” section. Tap on the ringtone name to choose the ringtone as your default iPhone ringtone.

That’s all to it to get a custom ringtone on your iPhone. It may look like a lot of steps involved but basically it’s pretty simple and if you focus a little bit you can get it right on your first attempt and then you’ll love having the ability to make your own custom ringtone for your iPhone.

I hope you find it useful. If you have any questions/comments regarding this please let me know in comments.