Digital Home Thoughts: RealDVD Ripper

"Savvy PC users will ask, "What's the big deal? I've been ripping DVDs to my PC's hard drive for years." Fair enough, but RealDVD adds some relevant bullet points to the equation. First off, it's legal: That's because the program retains the DVD copy-protection, and even adds a further layer of DRM to the files. (Real is standing on the precedent set by the Kaleidescape's 2007 court victory.) So you shouldn't have to sweat a prison term for copyright violation next time you're toting your laptop through airport security. Secondly, it's transportable: you can rip the discs to an external USB hard drive and watch them on up to four other PCs on which you've installed the program. (OK, you can do this and more with underground DVD rippers, but the point is that RealDVD is offering a reasonable degree of viewing flexibility, instead of locking the movies onto just one computer.) And thirdly, the software is easy to install and use--anyone familiar with, say, iTunes should have no problem ripping DVDs with RealDVD."

This is a feature that I really would like to see Microsoft include as part of Windows Media Center out of the box. From the FAQ, it appears that Real's offering does not currently integrate with WMC, but they plan on adding that in the future. Hopefully the legal spin is just cnet's spin because if the best thing you can say about your product is that it is legal, I think either the marketing or development team needs a kick in the butt. Finally has anyone ever heard of a person being even approached, much the less imprisoned for carrying ripped movies on a flight, or is that just more fear-mongering on the part of the article?