Prince and the covermount

[Grumpmeister]

Err just a thought, given that I'm half way through converting my entire DVD collection. Where do I stand in that regard for converting my DVD's for watching on a PDA as they arent available in this format? 

[Barman]

To be perfectly honest I copy every DVD and music disk that I own.  Seeing as I own it anyway, you may ask Why?

I am completely fed up of having to watch all the drivel that they put in front of a film and disable the fast forward and skip controls to force you to watch all of the "You may have bought it but it still belongs to us" rubbish and ever increasing masses of advertising and trailers which go on for so long that you forget what film you were going to watch in the first place.

A copy destroys all those restrictions and I can happily skip straight to the film.  Job done!

And, it keeps the original in perfect condition so that if anything happens to the recording, I can do it again.

In the US where all this restrictive condition comes from, it is actually legal things to copy for back-up purposes so why do they get so snotty about us doing it?

When we were burgled we lost every music disk and DVD we possessed, but the Insurance would not cover intellectual rights losses, so it cost us a fortune to replace it all - which we are still doing - had we have made copies we would have been OK instead of us having to pay twice for the same thing.

I know it's is illegal, but so was stealing my stuff in the first place and nobody cares about that, so I am not repentant - Me first now! so like everyone else, I have taken steps to protect my investment.  So sue me!

Agreed.

I went to a new customer yesterday that had just bout a one terabyte hard drive for ?300 ? makes an on-line medial library with all my DVD?s a realistic and cost effective option. 

[Misunderstood]

Err just a thought, given that I'm half way through converting my entire DVD collection. Where do I stand in that regard for converting my DVD's for watching on a PDA as they arent available in this format? 

Strictly speaking it is still illegal.  Copying copyright material is prohibited for whatever reason you do it in the UK.

But... Realistically speaking, if you are copying for your own use and not spreading them around, then there is no one to care and no one knows anything in order to shop you.

There is a massive body of opinion in the EU court system to legalise personal use copying for different media carriers and backup purposes as it is a victimless 'crime'.