[Dan Frakes]

hillstones said:

However, even Mac the Ripper 3.x cannot get past Disney's new RipGuard. So Disney doesn't want you to make backup copies. They want your kid to ruin the DVD or BluRay so you can continue to buy more. Thanks Disney.

RipIt can apparently rip the latest Disney flicks.

[cphoffman42]

"There’s a fly in this ointment, however. The media drives inside today’s Macs will not rip discs from one region when the drive is set for another region. The solution is to either play a bit of the original disc to switch regions or, better yet, use an external DVD burner for discs from other regions. These external drives don’t have this “not my region” restriction when ripping discs."

Interestingly, I've found a way around this (at least in Tiger - may not work in Leopard). When I put a Region 2 disc in my drive, it tries to open DVD Player and then gives me the message asking if I want to change regions (or whatever it is). As long as I leave that message up, I can open up Handbrake and rip a copy of the disc. When I'm done, I just close out of the message and the disc ejects. But by that point, I have a nice movie file that can play on my iPod or Apple TV. :)

[Kazoo]

Not sure about every last Disney movie but mac the ripper 3 works on all the rip-guarded movies I own.

[bwanderson]

When I encounter a DVD MacTheRipper can't manage, and yeah, they're mostly Disney DVDs, I boot into Windows and use DVD Decrypter. I have yet to find a DVD it can't rip. See? Windows is useful for SOME things! ;)

[mviuk]

It's a windup. Either that or the guy evidentally doesn't understand international copyright law, the meaning of DRM, life in general or 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

[fmaxwell]

reallycrazy said:

This whole article is a violation of the DCMA, as it provides explicit instructions on how to circumvent DRM. You must immediately withdraw the article or MacWorld becomes liable for all copyright infringement, everywhere, real or imagined.

It's okay to violate unconstitutional laws -- in fact, it's something that we all should do, openly, publicly, and defiantly. The DMCA violates the First Amendment and is a disgusting example of what happens when major corporations wield too much influence with our lawmakers.

[webraider]

What about Aimersoft? They sell programs that can Rip and duplicate PROTECTED DVD's. Why is there no mention of them??? They used to be windows only but have come over to the Mac now. Incidently they have a software bundle that's very inexpensive that will do everything toast, mpeg StreamClip, Mac the Ripper, and the others will do EXCEPT they work with Encrypted DVD's as well. Why can't Toast do this???

[webraider]

bwanderson said:

When I encounter a DVD MacTheRipper can't manage, and yeah, they're mostly Disney DVDs, I boot into Windows and use DVD Decrypter. I have yet to find a DVD it can't rip. See? Windows is useful for SOME things! ;)

Try Aimersoft Software.. everything the sell on Windows is available on the Mac too and it can rip Encrypted DVD's including Author DVD's too.

[Chris Breen]

webraider said:

What about Aimersoft?

You'll want to pay attention to this part of the article:

Q. I?ve seen posts in Web site forums extolling the virtues of programs not listed here. Why not use them?

A. When companies have to stoop to spamming forums with instructions for ripping DVDs or converting files with Tool X, Y, or Z, it tells you something about the quality of that company and its products. The three programs we?ve listed will do the job.

Take a cruise around the Web and see how this company advertises its products.

[MacKayaker]

I can't believe this and threads like it. Full of rationalization and the same lame thinking that dominates most of the crime "solving" shows I quit watching. Too much end justifies the means kind of thinking. People talking about the "need" to break copyright protections. The "need" for back-up media - it's a load of dingo kidneys in my opinion. I have many hundreds of CDs and plenty of DVDs that run as well now as the day I bought them. If kids aren't old enough to respect media, they arent old enough to watch with out the parent's involvement, which means the parents can handle the media - end of rationalization.

At the end of the day people will justify and rationalize what they want to do - whether it's really appropriate or not.

[webraider]

Chris Breen said:

You'll want to pay attention to this part of the article:

Take a cruise around the Web and see how this company advertises its products.

Chris, You'll have to forgive me but I have never seen them advertise their products any differently than say..a banner on a webpage. This doesn't mean they haven't done it.. I just haven't seen it. I tried their trial software and needless to say.. It works. That said.. I've noticed that it seems to be the exact same software of several other companies, one which has had boxed versions in the Apple Store (4Media DVD Copy for Mac). I don't know if 4Media has licensed out their software to other companies because I've found two others and althogh the buttons look a little different and the background colors are slightly altered.. the buttons, menus and functions are all in the exact same place. This is what seems odd to me. Not their advertising. I did read your article, but have not seen them aggressive in their advertisement. Also, its' not a use A, then B, Then C.. it's a one stop fits all shop. You can get the bundle. Maybe it's illegal for you guys to endorse them, but with the trial version, I could #1 Rip a Commercial DVD to iPod, Copy it outputting directly to another DVD, DVD folder, or iso disk image, Convert ANY media to ANY other type of Media (ie.. Mpeg 2 to Mpeg 4, flv file to Mpeg 2) and most importantly, author a DVD with EyeTV or Mpeg 2 clips (which toast can do, but this program gives much more control of menus.) I haven't found anything wrong with the software itself. I actually just recently stumbled on the software this last week so I though i might check it out.

[fmaxwell]

MacKayaker said:

I can't believe this and threads like it. Full of rationalization and the same lame thinking that dominates most of the crime "solving" shows I quit watching. Too much end justifies the means kind of thinking. People talking about the "need" to break copyright protections. The "need" for back-up media - it's a load of dingo kidneys in my opinion. I have many hundreds of CDs and plenty of DVDs that run as well now as the day I bought them. If kids aren't old enough to respect media, they arent old enough to watch with out the parent's involvement, which means the parents can handle the media - end of rationalization.

At the end of the day people will justify and rationalize what they want to do - whether it's really appropriate or not.

Please try to be less sanctimonious and d*ckish.


I am on a long-term (multi-month) business trip. I have copies of DVDs that are at my home. I've put these copies into a CD/DVD binder. I did so because I did not want to carry the bulky cases of the originals, risk damage to the discs as I played them in various low-end DVD players, or risk their loss in my checked baggage.


I also brought copies of legally-owned CDs in the same binder so that I can play them in my rental car. I'm not enamored with the idea of losing a dozen $15 CDs or add scratches to them in some rental car's slot-loading CD player.


I also just ripped the entire HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" using Handbrake and downloaded it to my iPod prior to going on this business trip. I have watched them on four different flights so far.


Frankly, you are completely wrong about your CDs being as good as the day you got them. In fact, I would be willing to prove that your CD player's error correction is kicking in numerous times during playing due to micro-scratches (or worse) on the media. You see, I am the moderator for the Exact Audio Copy discussion forum on Yahoo! and I know a hell of a lot more about this subject than you do.


In conclusion, you are completely wrong and totally lacking in insight or imagination if you cannot envision a situation in which someone might wish to rip a DVD or CD that they, themselves, own. Please stop posting your self-righteous, poorly considered opinions.

[Chris Breen]

webraider said:

Chris, You'll have to forgive me but I have never seen them advertise their products any differently than say..a banner on a webpage.

If you've worked a forum for awhile you see a lot of this crud. It's all apparently made by the same company, which is why you see the same basic interface. Someone did their homework and came up with this list of "companies" selling the same dreck.

As I suggested, if you have to stoop to spamming forums to promote this stuff, neither you or your products are worth anyone's time. Plus, given the worthwhile and free alternatives, why bother supporting spammers?

[webraider]

Chris Breen said:

Quote

If you've worked a forum for awhile you see a lot of this crud. It's all apparently made by the same company, which is why you see the same basic interface. Someone did their homework and came up with this list of "companies" selling the same dreck.

As I suggested, if you have to stoop to spamming forums to promote this stuff, neither you or your products are worth anyone's time. Plus, given the worthwhile and free alternatives, why bother supporting spammers?

Fair enough, That said it has two things that I haven't seen from the free stuff...A one stop solution and it seems to be the most up to date at handling encryption. Every DVD I threw at it, it was able to be read, and take footage from it.. ones that even mac the ripper or handbrake could not do. That to me is worth it even if they do have bad spamming habbits. My thing is this.. Instead of not mentioning them, give their software an honest review. If it really doesn't stand up, the review will show it. Then you could say... Avoid this by this company at all costs because their software failed _ percent of the time. At one time I do believe that 4media's software was being sold at the apple store.. but I could be wrong on that too as different things come and go. Please note that I've only used the demo version of this software, I haven't purchased it yet.

I am assuming that the true manufacturer of this software is actually an international company thus can totally avoid Cease and Desist orders from DVD lawyers...I think that's how MacTheRipper has gotten as far as it has.