Just a note on
FairUse4WM and additional options... it is a solid program that does exactly what it says it does. The major advantage is its speed. I also use
Daniusoft's Digital Media Converter Pro and this is an extremely solid tool as well and well worth the $39.95 I paid (the non-Pro version is $34.95) but takes quite a while to complete a single video - it doesn't keep you from continuing to work like some of the Streamers do (
Tunebite,
Soundtaxi, etc.).
I have also used these Streamers and they are OK as far as stripping and conversion goes but can be a bit touchy at times...so far no issues with FU4WM and DaniuSoft and I have stripped and converted over 20 videos so far with zero errors and very clean results when played from my iPod to my TV.
Well that's all I've got. Good luck and I hope your frustrations are at least somewhat minimized by this information.