Digital Home Thoughts: New DVD Copying Software Enters the Market

"Another DVD copying program has been released, but past legal action by Hollywood may threaten its time on the market. Still, 123 Copy DVD has released a $20 product of the same name, claiming its tool is "the first product of its kind that allows the user to back up any movie while remaining compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act." The 1998 law, designed to extend copyright protection to digital information, effectively outlaws most DVD copying. Out of the box, the program is useful primarily for copying noncommercial content, such as your home videos. But once you've "updated" 123 (at 123's direction) so the program can copy any DVD, it's likely no longer compliant with the DMCA..."

You can just tell this won't last longer than a few weeks. You know what's funny? I really haven't yet felt the need to duplicate any of my DVDs. I've read about parents duplicating DVDs because their kids keep destroying them, so that sounds plausible. I've heard of other people duplicating their DVDs for travel purposes, which also makes sense. But beyond that, I honestly wonder how many people are using DVD duping programs for legitimate reasons - I'm willing to best that the majority of people are renting DVDs from Blockbuster, ripping them, and burning them to DVD or transcoding to DivX and burning them to a CD. Or am I just cynical?