ripping dvds to your computer/ipod

DISCLAIMER: Ripping copyrighted DVDs is illegal and should only be done with the express consent from the copyright owner.

Okay, I'm sick of looking for a decent step-by-step tutorial on how to do this (to refer my friends to) so I'm just going to write one myself. If someone has a better one, please point me to it.

Many people are in the dark about how to copy a DVD to their computer and/or ipod. On Windows, you need two things: DVD43 and HandBrake. The good news is that they're both free.

First, download DVD43 and install it. I can't link to the download directly for legal reasons. Go to the DVD43 website and then click on one of the download links.

After installing that you'll probably need to reboot. Then download the Windows version of HandBrake. Install handbrake (it's just a zip with some files, so extract them to your Desktop).

Then insert a DVD, hit Start->Run. In the dialog box that pops up type "cmd" and hit enter. This gives you a "DOS Prompt." At the DOS prompt type "cd Desktop" and hit enter.

Then type: HBTest.exe -i 'D:\' -o "output.mp4"
and hit Enter. Then wait forever.

It takes a long time to rip a full length movie. After a couple minutes you'll notice a percent complete that tells you how far along the encoding process is. Once handbrake is done it will tell you Rip Done! (it's actually and encoding not a rip, but whatever). Then look at your desktop and you'll notice a new file called output.mp4. In the above command you can change "output.mp4" to anything, so long as it ends in .mp4.

That's it. You can then put this mp4 on your ipod, watch it in quicktime, etc. Nifty.