iSquint: Your iPod’s Friend, Or Wallet’s Foe?

Your shiny new iPod with video plays music, photos, movies, TV shows, video clips from your birthday party.

So what’s up with all those different video formats. Who can figure them out? iSquint can. For free. Almost.

Have you taken a look at all the video formats that run on a Mac these days? It’s not just QuickTime.

QuickTime plays back almost everything, but your little iPod likes only certain video formats.

iSquint to the rescue. iSquint converts most of those messy formats to one that plays nice nice with iTunes and iPod.

It’s faster than QuickTime Pro at converting files, especially on new Intel Macs. Drag your file to iSquint, click start.

The default settings make conversion videos just ripe for iPods.

Other settings are good for TV, iTunes, and H.264 (if you have to ask, don’t-- one day it will be a good thing).

It’s just about that simple. iSquint converts most video files, in real time, to screen sizes to fit your iPod.

Did I mention it’s free? It’s also the self proclaimed Number One iPod video converter for Macs.

There’s this one little, itsy bitsy, teensy weensy problem I have with iSquint. Can you say, ”Bait and Switch?” I thought you could.

The iSquint home page lists all the things iSquint can do for you and your iPod. For free, of course. It converts video for iPod. That’s it.

Then you’re presented with a list of all the things iSquint does NOT do, which is then compared to another product called VisualHub.

You guessed it. VisualHub does a whole bunch of tingly video things that iSquint doesn’t do, and VisualHub costs money.

For example, VisualHub offers a dynamic preview, cropping capability, better encoding, a way to increase audio volume and combine videos.

There’s even a way to squeeze 18 hours of video to fit on a single DVD. Video conversions?

VisualHub’s conversion list is greater than my Wal-Mart shopping list, and that’s substantial.

I have a brand new baby that doesn’t do anything except make noise at all hours of the night, then ingest and degest food stuffs, then repeat.

Even the VisualHub User Guide is 42 pages. That alone qualifies it for a price tag, right?

What bothers me most is the blatant comparison list on the iSquint site.

Get one for free, but it doesn’t do what the other does for real money.

Even the price tag smacks of oddity. It’s not $29.95 or $19.99. It’s $23.32 USD.

”OK, Alex, is $23.32 worth what VisualHub charges?” The answer is relatively simple. I don’t know.

I don’t know because I’m sufficiently turned off by two things-- so much so that I won’t pursue either free or pay for. For now.

First, I’m disappointed that there are just so damned many video formats for Macs, Windows, iTunes, iPods, video cameras, and everything in-between.

I really want something to help manage all that confusion. Where is it? In a 42-page user guide?

Second, I’m disappointed that paying nothing doesn’t end the confusion, since I already bought a Mac and iLife, and QuickTime Pro.

And paying $23.32 doesn’t end it, either.

Got a solution to the video mess we deal with? Share it with others-- warts, gotchas, and price tag.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

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Off Topic #58 - Do politicians use personal computers? Of course. We’ve heard Barack Obama prefers a Mac, while Hillary Clinton uses a Dell, though, apparently neither of the candidates can bowl. Does Obama’s potential vice president use a Mac? Even Clinton acknowledges Apple’s brand power but says she can’t afford a Mac. Maybe she’d win if she used a Mac.