You might ask, if it’s such an illegal act, why are there a whole host of DVD ripping software (others are called DVD converters) being sold? Well, to be frank, I don’t think ripping in itself is illegal. In fact, ripping is just a process that you do to extract the movie from the DVD/CD. What’s really illegal is if the intention for ripping is to gain money from it.

However, if you are a parent and has a child who positively just won’t let up watching Finding Nemo day-in-day-out; or, your child always seems to find her way to your most prized DVD collection, and discovering them with full of her fingerprints (among others things.) Or, if your children just can’t get enough of playing with the DVDs like Frisbees whenever you turn your back!

Naturally, in cases like these, you will start thinking of ways to keep that precious movie playing (or at least playable in the future.) You’re not going to go and buy another DVD! You already spent enough on the first one and that’s it. Who wants 2-3 copies of The Godfather or Book of Pooh, anyway? It’s just not practical and it’s ridiculous.

These DVD rippers or converters are actually a godsend, not only for these parents but for any movie fanatic. And it’s not only for preserving or having a backup either; with DVD converters you can rip the movies so that they can play on portable devices, too -like iPods or PSPs. It saves you from buying a bulky portable DVD player.

So, ultimately, the answer is not exactly. It depends on your intent. If you are being an honest individual and only trying to make sure you have a backup ready; then go for it. Otherwise, don’t even think about it!

1. Get an A/V cable ready – This is usually an 8-inch-to-RCA cable with three plugs (red, white and yellow) at one end and a 3.5mm 3-banded 8-inch A/V plug at the other end.

2. Change your iPod Settings – Go to iPod Settings, select Videos and then Video Settings from the main menu. There are three settings you can adjust to set the playback style that works for you:

a. TV Out – Video iPods can play video on either its built-in screen or transmit video signals via the microphone jack. It cannot play through both. Choose Yes – to produce a TV signal, No – to playback on itself, and Ask – to prompt you every time you play a video file.

b. TV Signal – Depending on where your TV came from you need to set the signal to either NTSC (standard used in US and JAPAN) or PAL (for European and Australian television sets.)

c. Widescreen – The built-in screen uses a 4:3 screen ratio while a widescreen a 16:9 proportion. Select YES to generate a widescreen signal or NO for the traditional TV output.

3. Connect the TV to your iPod – Make sure to connect the A/V cord’s 8-inch to the iPod’s earphone jack. And unlike the conventional way of plugging the RCA plugs, you need to remember the following:

a. Plug the red RCA to your TV’s yellow RCA jack.

b. Plug the yellow RCA to your TV’s white RCA jack.

c. Plug the white RCA to your TV’s red RCA jack.

4. Play your video – Select the movie you want to watch in your iPod, if you set TV Out to ASK – you will be prompted to play the video with TV On or TV Off. Choose TV On and enjoy your movie!

Remember to check out our homepage to see reviews on what users think are the best dvd ipod software out right now.

Why was DRM implemented in the first place? Here’s what Steve Jobs himself has to say:

Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices.

Now, for an additional 30 cents per track, you can now replace your iTunes-purchased songs to DRM-free versions. And download new music DRM-free! Although these may still be in AAC format (which isn’t as common as the MP3) you won’t find it hard to find great music players that support that audio format.

However, there are a lot of people who would love to try other music players that probably suit their style a little bit more but wouldn’t want to trade iTunes. This is still possible.

There is available software, like iTunes Agent or iTunes Sync that will help iTunes recognize or work with other music players apart from the iPod. As long as you can make iTunes communicate with your music player, your possibilities for unrestricted sound tripping is endless.

If you have questions on how to make these work for you, visit DVDtoiPodReview.com.