I have a Nintaus 9100 DVD player that plays just about everything: DVD, VCD, SVCD, XVCD, DVCD, HDCD, PHOTO CD, CD a
MP3.
Do I need to do anything special to burn a CD full of those emailed shorts and clips I get all the time? Will it just play them normally, or do I need special software to convert things?
Tomcat, I strongly suggest you go to http://vcdhelp.com/ . They have tutorials on how to burn many of the things you listed above as well as lists of the best media to record to for your particular player.
Check their compatibility database before you go at it. I wasted about 4 hours converting video and burning it to CD before I discovered none of my standalone DVD players would play a burned VCD.