PRODUCT REVIEW
Crunch Some Content for Your iPhone

So you've got your iPhone and you want to put something into it besides names and phone numbers.

Problem is, you've got all this content on your computer in all these alphabet soup formats -- JPG, AVI, MPEG, DV, DivX -- that won't work with your new supergadget.

What's worse, your computer is a PC instead of a Mac!

Don't despair. The folks at Roxio just released a Windows version of their Crunch (US$39.99) software for massaging video files for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) products like the iPhone.

Dual Views

In the Windows version of the program, file conversions are easy and simple.

You click the "Add Movies" button. A Media Selector window pops up.

You can choose between two views in the Selector.

Folder View gives you the traditional Windows Explorer "tree view."

Smart Views has a number of pre-defined views for quicker access to your video files. For instance, you can see all video recently imported into Crunch, all CD/DVD images on your hard drive or all DVD video folders (video_ts) there.

Useful Tools

After you choose the files you want converted, click OK and they're sent to Crunch.

In the program, they're displayed with a thumbnail from the video and information about it.

Above the list of files to be converted are some useful tools.

One allows you to rename your video clips. That's especially handy for video captured from a camcorder, where file names can be a meaningless series of letters and numbers, like uvs070615-003-vol-39.

Another tool lets you trim your clips -- also valuable when working with home video.

Simpler Nomenclature

When your clips are ready for conversion, it's time to choose a format and destination for them.

Rather than confuse a user with daunting filename extensions, Crunch couches its file options in more accessible terminology.

You can transform a file into something that will run on Apple TV, an iPod or an iPhone.

Within those categories are four levels of resolution and compression: fastest, highest, high and standard.

H.264 Compression

For example, the fastest format for Apple TV uses MPEG-4 compression, resolution of 640-by-480 pixels, a frame rate of 30 frames a second and a bit rate of 1.25 megabits per second.

The fastest format for iPod and iPhone have the same compression and resolution, but they're adapted for a letterbox display, have a slightly slower frame rate of 29.97 and a faster bit rate of 2.25 megabits per second.

Only Apple TV has a "highest" setting, with H.264 compression, letterbox display, 960-by-540 resolution, frame rate of 30 and bit rate of 4.5 megabits per second.

H.264 is a form of MPEG-4 compression used by Apple's media player, Quicktime 7 and next generation DVD formats like HD DVD and Blu-ray.

When you're converting files, Crunch gives you two output alternatives. You can save the conversion to a file or directly to iTunes.

The direct save to iTunes is convenient because that program is used to transfer content to both the iPhone and iPod.

Review and Return

Ordinarily, I request review units for cell phones from carriers, but that turned into a dead end for the iPhone.

"At this point, we have no demo units available," an AT&T (NYSE: T) Wireless spokesperson told me via e-mail .

"Apple has been handling device allocation," the spokesperson explained, "and it could be weeks or months before I have a demo unit available.

"You may want to consider purchasing an iPhone and taking advantage of the 14-day return policy," the spokesperson recommended. "All it would cost you is a 10 percent restocking fee."

"I know it sounds ridiculous," the spokesperson admitted. "But, it's the best we can do right now."

Anyway, when I tried Crunch with iTunes and my iPod, it worked fine.