If you’ve got a 6th-generation iPod (iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod
classic) an iPhone, a Zune or some other players, one of the things you
probably want to do is put movies on it. After all, movies really do
look great on the iPod, and it’s a lot easier to carry around than a
laptop or portable DVD player.

The problem is that commercial DVDs are copy-protected, which means you
can’t “rip” them in iTunes as you can a music CD. So you need a special
tool that removes this copy protection as it extracts the video content;
if that tool can then convert the video to a format suitable for
playback on your iPod, iPhone or other players, even better. (And by the
way, I’m not talking about movies you’ve rented or borrowed; I’m talking
about movies you actually own.)

My favorite tool for accomplishing this task is 'iSkysoft DVD Ripper
for Mac' (http://www.iskysoft.com/dvd-ripper-mac.html). Some people may
use 'Handbrake' (http://handbrake.fr/) for it is free. But using
HandBrake requires you to choose the right settings, which some people
have found frustrating; after all, given how lengthy the process of
converting a DVD to an iPod-ready movie can be, it’s a hassle to get all
the way to the end only to discover that your video file won’t play on
your players.
ISkysoft DVD Ripper for Mac makes the process easier, unlike HandBrake,
which requires you to choose a number of different settings, such as
video size, frame rate, bit rate, audio sample rate, video and audio
format, and so on, it makes all those choice for you: The resulting
video file is automatically resized for screen, using compression
settings that are a good compromise (size vs. quality) for watching. It
let you merge and convert all the titles or chapters you want to convert
into one file.

Using iSkysoft DVD Ripper for Mac couldn’t be much easier. You insert
your DVD—one you own , of course—and then launch the application; Click
the Load DVD button, browse your computer, find the DVD folder of the
movie you want to add from your hard disc or DVD-ROM, open your DVD
folder, select the VIDEO_TS folder and click OK. Select an output format
from the Format drop-down list. Just select a format according to the
device you want to put. Click Rip...and then wait...and wait...and wait.
Seriously, compressing and converting video is a slow process. When
conversion is finished, simply drag the resulting file into iTunes (if
you want to put DVD on iPod), and the next time you sync, the movie will
be copied to your iPod.

IS THIS LEGAL?

Some readers may be wondering if using a tool such as iSkysoft DVD
Ripper is legal.

The courts have ruled that breaking encryption is a violation of
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but they have also ruled that
making copies of music and other media you have purchased is legal and
considered "fair use".

The DMCA is a USA construct, some countries have similar laws, and
because DVDs are encrypted you have to decrypt them to copy them. Now if
you hooked your DVD player to a VCR and copied the DVD this is not the
same or a violation - the DVD is decrypted by the DVD player (the
manufacturer bought the rights to the decryption key) and you are
copying onto a VCR tape and the video is now unencrypted. This is the
way people copy iTunes encrypted music to MP3 - they copy the analog
unencrypted audio stream and convert it back to digital. Needless to
say, for a movie, this means playing the whole movie to copy it.

The DVD Ripper, uses some code (DeCSS) by "DVD John" to break the
encryption key and make a digital copy (bit for bit) so you can backup a
DVD in minutes (on fast machines) and you don't have to watch it. It is
like copying an entire data CD.

The US has not ruled specifically (that I know of) if this is legal or
not, as it requires a violation of DMCA to do something that is allowed.
Personally, I consider it fair use. I backup music CDs, so why can't I
back up movies, or convert them to a format that fits on my phone? I
believe I can.

An interesting development lately, a company that makes a DVD player
and also a storage system just one a related case. Their player rips
your DVDs to a massive hard drive and you then have digital versions of
all your DVDs so you can watch them in any room of your house. It is
pretty high end and stuff, but the important thing is that they won
their case as they have a licensed key in their player and the court saw
this as fair use. The key decrypts DVDs and they just decrypt and store
them. The DVD association and MPAA are really pissed at these guys and
are the ones that sued them; they don't like a precedent that may let
the public backup DVDs.

Anyway, make your own informed decision. If you live outside the US, it
may be legal for you anyway.


--
leony
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