I’m worried about my DVDs getting scratches. It’s a real problem around my house, since I’m always running them across band saws and dragging them behind my car. I’ve often wished that a company would make some sort of product that would copy my DVDs to my computer so I would have a backup. Well, as though my wish went up to the Wish Fairy, RealNetworks, Inc. has created something to help me out.
As was noted….pretty much everywhere, including the Associated Press, RealNetworks is going to sell software to allow me (and you) to copy our DVDs to a personal computer. According to company executive Rob Glaser, we could use this to put a bunch of DVDs on a laptop before a trip or make those helpful backups of much loved movies. Or we could steal movies we get from our friends, relatives, the local library, or Netflix. Whoops, he doesn’t say that, in fact, he’s against it. Glaser notes, "If you want to steal, we remind you what the rules are and we discourage you from doing it, but we're not your nanny," Not exactly the strongest statement of support for intellectual property I’ve ever heard.
The software, which should be out next month, will cost about $30 and allow you to play movies copied onto portable media on up to five different computers. The studios, which are notoriously not cool with things that make it easier for people to steal their stuff, haven’t taken an official position yet. My position is that anything that makes it easier to store and watch movies on the go is cool, but it still seems like a license to steal. Although, if you’re going to steal movies, you’re probably already doing it without RealNetworks help.
