Got a large collection of videos on your computer that you’d like to watch on a portable device, such as a Windows Mobile smartphone?

In this Workshop, we’ll explain how to convert video files into a format and size that’s optimised for the smaller screens of portable gadgets. As welcome side effect, the file will then take up less space, leaving more storage on your portable device for other stuff. The files created here should play on most portable devices.

Three programs are required: the first two deal with converting movies to the new format, while the third is only needed if you plan to play back the converted file on a Windows Mobile or Palm OS device. Here’s how to proceed.

Play home movies on an iPod
Apple iPod users can’t play the AVI files produced by Pocket DivX Encoder, but another free program can convert video from many formats into a type recognised by the iPod. Download and install Freez iPod Video Converter from www.smallvideosoft.com/download.php. It’s simple to use: just select the movie file or files, then choose some basic video and audio settings (you can resize the movie to fit your iPod’s screen) before clicking the Convert button. Once done, use iTunes to transfer the converted movie to your iPod.