RealNetworks has unveiled legal DVD-ripping software RealDVD, a $30 program, which will import all of the features from a disc onto your hard drive, including cover art.
But the program has its limitations. Aside from only playing in the internal player, the videos can only be watched on up to 5 computers, all of which must have a separately purchased copy of the program installed. The copy not only retains the digital rights management that was on the disc, but adds its own layer of protection.
This is all of course necessary to keep the industry marginally happy, especially in light of a recent lawsuit where the DVD Copy Control Association lost a case against a Silicon Valley video server start-up, ruling "Nothing requires that a DVD be present during playback."
But this could all change according to some insiders.
If a higher court reverses the decision and hands the movie industry a decisive victory over DVD copying technology, “Real will have to withdraw the product and could get sued,” said Bill Rosenblatt, editor of the online newsletter DRM Watch.
DVD ripping isn’t even new (at least to the tech savvy), and there are certainly other means of obtaining pirated copies of a film like bit torrents. But this is a big step in DVD ripping going mainstream, and the process could pave the way for a wider market of movie sharing -- an advancement of which neither Hollywood nor Netflix is likely to be a fan.
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