I recently got a set of DVDs for my birthday, but I’m never home to watch them. Is there any way to save these DVDs onto my iPod touch?

Certainly! First you need to rip the DVDs to your hard drive. This process doesn’t get much simpler than using Ripit ($19.95, thelittleappfactory.com), which rips your DVD to a Video_TS folder on your Desktop. Then you need another application to convert the Video_TS folder into a file that you can load onto your iPod touch. A good free one is HandBrake (handbrake.fr), but tons of apps like Popcorn, RealPlayer SP, and EasyWMV can do this too.

Converting a South Park episode for later guffawing.

With HandBrake, select the whole Video_TS folder as the source, then look in the Title dropdown at the upper right for a track with the same length as your video. If you’re working with a DVD of a movie, the longest track is usually the film itself. From the drawer of presets to the right (press Command-T if you can’t see it), choose iPhone & iPod Touch under the Apple section. Then press Start in the toolbar up top to start the conversion or Add To Queue if you want to convert more than one video. When the conversion is done, drag the M4V file to your iTunes library and sync it with your iPod touch--never forgetting, of course, that digital copies of your DVDs must be for your own personal use.