need DVD to ipod help

Here’s the situation: I own a Black Heart Procession dvd, The Tropics of Love. I would love to get these videos onto my ipod classic 80gb. I got a recommendation for a free product called Free Studio, which is pretty basic but lets you convert video files to various formats. When I convert my dvd to ipod format, the program makes one huge MP4 file. I don’t want one huge MP4 file, this dvd is divided into different music videos, and I want each video separate rather than one big file.

Opening up the dvd in Windows Media Player, I can see that it is divided into 5 “Tracks”, which are further divided into “chapters”. Track 1 contains the main movieand is divided into 19 chapters, which are the individual videos. But when I open the dvd in Free Studio for conversion, it only gives you the option to convert the tracks, not individual chapters within that track (as I said, it’s kind of basic).

So, I am looking for a free and preferably easy to use program which will let me convert individual chapters to video files.

I don’t know for sure if it can do what you’re asking, but I use Handbrake, a very good, free, and easy-to-use DVD ripper. Check it out.

Yes. Handbrake can rip each chapter individually into its own mp4 file.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Handbrake often is unable to deal with copy protection schemes on DVDs. I would use DVDShrink to crack the protection and rip out the specific videos you want. Then use handbrake to convert the files from VOB to MP4.

Yes but if it does, it saves him a step and an hour or so. Handbrake hasn’t failed me yet.

Handbrake indeed did the trick, quickly and easily. Thanks a bunch for the recommendation! I have a few other music dvd’s (mostly concert footage) that I’m going to be adding to my ipod now.
This is a fairly small band in terms of sales and the size of their label (Touch and Go records), so I didn’t think copy protection would be an issue. I am hastening to add that I am putting my legally purchased dvd video on my own ipod, and I do not intend to distribute it or add it to file sharing sites.
Thanks again