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I should have guessed Circuit City would have been the first store to throw the gauntlet into the DVD backup service rink and challenge the MPAA to what could the greatest consumer battle of all time. Please read the News article below:

Fair Use advocates, take notice. Circuit City is apparently putting its neck on the line to provide customers with DVD transfer services. The company is offering a "DVD video transfer service" that for all intents and purposes is illegal. The company will take commercial DVDs and rip them for use on portable devices for $10 for 1 DVD, $20 for 3 DVDs or $30 for 5 DVDs. That is, until their legal department hears what's happening.

The DMCA, of course, makes this illegal. Even if fair use clearly provides users the "right" to make backup and private transformative copies of works that they have purchased, the DMCA itself makes it illegal to circumvent encrypted access controls for any reason not allowed for by the Library of Congress. If Circuit City hasn't received a cease and desist, they will soon.

It's a real shame, too, because this should be a viable market. Software and services are losing out to draconian digital rights management philosophies and anti-consumer technologies aimed at increasing revenues stemming from double-dipping—what I call the industry's penchant for charging twice for the same thing. While charging $10 to rip a single DVD is pricey, if there was a market for DVD copying software, there would be competition, too. But since 321 Studios' DVD X Copy and DVD Copy Plus software was found to violate the DMCA, such software has been effectively banned from US retailers. A plethora of software is available for copying DVDs online, but all of it is technically illegal to use the United States.

The situation is especially frustrating because challenging the status quo in court has been difficult. When 321 Studios had their day in court, we hoped that DVD copying would be affirmed. Sadly, it wasn't. Judge Susan Illston put aside the questions of fair use and instead focused on the legality of 321 Studios' actions. "Legal downstream use of the copyrighted material by customers is not a defense to the software manufacturer's violation of the provisions (of copyright law)," she wrote.

According to a promotional plaque photographed by a Consumerist reader, Circuit City requires that transfers come "from an original copy of your DVD collection," but they have no way of verifying that. Even if they could, we don't expect the MPAA to care. We all know that as far as the MPAA and its members are concerned, the best solution is the one in which customers buy separate copies of movies for their TVs and their portable media players. Circuit City's moves are welcome, but unfortunately doomed unless the retailer decides to stick to its guns.

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Jaws3dfan®
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I'm always a bit torn on this subject. As the "tubes" get bigger the MPAA is going to run into more issues like the record companies have had with Napster, etc. While it is hard to feel much sympathy for folks who have to only have a Gulfstream IV instead of a V (a tip of the hat to South Park) I do know that a lot of the songwriters are not rich folks and they do get hurt when sales are down. Part of the problem is the archaic rules they work under, but they art least get some sympathy from me.

On the other hand, I have a 3 year old. The other day he got into the protable DVD bag and scattered the DVDs everywhere. I don't think any of them are scratched, but he could have easily wrecked about $400 worth of DVDs. It would be nice if I could copy them leave the orignals somewhere in the house and use the copies. I will be honest, it would be very tempting to make copies for friends and swap them.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Like Dennis, I am torn on the issue.

I work in "Hollywood" and there should be little tolerance for open theft from filmmakers, musicians etc. I don't sympathize with the big studio bosses either, and they often go too to "hold on to our rights". Making a copy for yourself has been protected since the VHS vcr era, but I have to draw the line at making multiple copies available to hundreds (if not MILLIONS) of others.

Then again, companies like Sinister Cinema, Video Search of Miami and others have helped make available 'orphan' films to people who would never have gotten a chance to see rare and often legally uncertain films if it were not for Public Domain and grey-market dupes.

So around and around go the ethical issues...........

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

Well the studios all know the best solution to this problem but are far to greedy to implement it....

If they want to be able to honostly say there is no use for backing up CD's or DVD's than they need to offer FREE replacements for life. You go online tell them what CD or DVD no longer works they send you a new CD or DVD (not the Jewel case or Cover) you return the old one back to them in a postage paid envelope kindda like Netflix. If they don't receive it in 30 days they bill your credit card for the full cost of the CD or DVD.

But if they are not willing to replace my scratched disc for free than I should be able to protect my investment.

Of coarse they WANT you to have to spend another 30.00 on a new CD or DVD so it's their own greed that has given life to "piracy" I would think it would be very easy to stop people from making and selling programs that copy DVD's and CD's if the studios were offering free replacments because than the only use for such a program is making copies to sell or give away.

I am always surprised at the greed and ignorance of multi Billion Dollar Companies and I shouldn't be.

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Jaws3dfan®
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Hmmm. DVD Express has been around for awhile. I believe that will allow you to make back-ups of your movies. I have not heard of any legal issues with them, though I don't follow these things that closely.

http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV_7 ... d=USBAV701

I have seen the not-brand-new version going for less than $50 on ebay. That allows you to create MPEG2 files, which is what you would want for a DVD AFAIK, and the unit includes editing and burning software. The whole thing just plugs into a USB port, and the other end to your VCR or DVD player. Of course, you still need a decent computer (with a DVD burner), especially if you want to edit, but I believe there is a direct-to-disk option on at least the newer units. So not cheap, but if you already have the computer, it is much cheaper than using the service if you have more than a few movies.

I think the only other special perk of the latest and greatest version (the DX2) is that you can make MPEG4 files (for video iPods?) but you can get conversion software for like $10 if that is important to you. There are several other products like this one out there, they don't seem to be sold only through shady outlets. You can buy them on Amazon.

Or am I just completely mistaken?

I have an older version of this (and it's a bit fussy). I can't remember if I tried copying a DVD. I should see if it works before I go shooting my mouth off. It's not like I actually know what I am talking about.

I just tested two movies, both of which are big, commercial movies that I would expect would have copy protection. Both were bought a little less than a year ago. One seemed to record fine, the other had some problems (but I didn't mess with it, it might just have been my DVD player being tempermental).

I'm not going to get in trouble now am I?

It does seem to be a viable way to make back-ups for your own use, if as you guys say, that is allowed. I don't advocate anything illegal. Though with this, you would have to go through all the extras and commentary, etc. and make separate DVDs for each, so it is not ideal.