Tikkabik

I have a confession to make. Ever since I got Roxio's Popcorn software, I've been ripping and burning DVDs like crazy. Not duplicating unprotected movies I've created using iDVD (all one of them). My collection of commercial DVDs.

I'm not supposed to do that. I read the warnings that always pop up when I stick a disc in our DVD players about unauthorized copying. I know I'm doing something bad, as far as the MPAA is concerned. But I think I have a valid excuse: I have three kids. See, I've largely spent my time with Popcorn duplicating discs I already own, legitimately. Stuff I've bought at Best Buy and Suncoast over the years.

Popcorn doesn't let you do it on your own. To that end, you need another utility like Mac the Ripper, that defeats the copy protection on the disc. That software lets you copy the disc part and parcel to your hard drive. Then you can drag and drop the resulting folder into Popcorn, and burn a copy that looks almost as good as the original (as good if you have a dual-layer burner, which I do not). But on a regular, non HDTV set like mine, I have trouble telling the difference between the original and the burned version -- Popcorn's video compression is that good, and the audio is pristinely duplicated.

My kids are tough on just about everything they own. Their clothes routinely get ripped or stained beyond redemption. They have more broken toys than intact ones. They've shred the living room furniture to pieces (okay, Max the cat has helped there too). And they've certainly run us ragged over the years. DVDs are no exception. And DVDs are delicate. Their surfaces can be scratched so easily, even by casual handling from the jewel case to the DVD player's tray. Get a kid who prefers to just stack DVDs up on flat surfaces instead of putting them away, and you can almost be guaranteed you'll get a gouge that won't be playable the next time it's inserted in the player.

So I've taken to copying the DVDs, and making the kids use the copies instead of the originals. This way, if that one gets screwed up, I'm not out $20 or $30. I'm only out the time and cost of materials to make a new disc. And at this rate, that's a lot less than what I'd pay for another copy of the disc.

Do I feel guilty? Not really. I've already bought and paid for the disc. I've given the copyright holders and the retailers all the money they've asked for. I *should* be able to make a copy for my own personal use and protection. Putting unreasonable blocks in my way to prevent me from doing so is just silly. I make copies of software I buy too -- have ever since the floppy disk days -- and put the originals in safe locations where I can retrieve them if need be. Well, I can usually retrieve them. But that's my poor organizational skills talking, and that's a different diatribe for a different day.

There's one other practical use I've found for Mac the Ripper: Usually when I go on the road I like to take a couple of movies with me on my PowerBook, since I rarely like the mediocre and inevitably sanitized in-flight entertainment available today, and usually have at least a night or two when I don't have plans and just want to chill out my hotel room. I've also used Mac the Ripper to rip the movies I own onto my PowerBook's hard drive, so I don't have to go through the trouble and discomfort of having to bring my DVDs with me. It also saves on battery life on the plane, since it takes less juice to spin up a hard disk and buffer info from it than it does an optical drive.