I like the innovation, but more Miller or Coors? Is there a "heeellll no" option on that survey?

@totoro - Think of the rip as a virtual DVD. When you double-click on it and it opens in DVD player, the audio track will default to whatever the DVD's default is.

@Brad - you can use it to rip DVDs, but you need to post-process the rip, using Handbrake or the like, to get it onto your iPhone or iPod.

@Nick - HA! Check that out. Although, we have no hate for Handbrake.

@Devon Shaw:

1. Region encoding removal is on the future feature list, although whether or not it will make it into RipIt or another utility that does a lot more than just region encoding removal is yet to be seen. (Rest assured that Jason, the lead developer, is watching this thread.)

2. ISO ripping will be an option, and not the default option. We prefer the .dvdmedia bundles ourselves (which are the VOBs and Video_TS folders).

3. RipIt works by emulating a DVD player, down to the instructions and registers. It follows the program of the disc, copying all of the nooks and crannies that are accessible to a player, and skipping around the bits that are placed there precisely to confuse rippers. (We've integrated failure feedback mechanisms into RipIt, so that in the rare event that something does go wrong, you can report all of the information that we will need to fix the problem, which as I've mentioned is a top priority.) So we don't necessarily "remove" bad sectors, but we never even read them, since the instruction set doesn't tell us to.

And yes, it's true, RipIt won't support things like title extraction, audio-track selection, etc. It's more of a purist's ripper, that leaves everything exactly as it should be. It's also drop-dead simple. Post-encoding is up to you.

@tony - Multi-drive ripping is "working" in the lab, but isn't out yet. But rest assured it is coming! Seriously.

@Brooks - Good questions. The RipIt website is actively being moved to a much much better service (that is, not static pages) which will allow a lot more information to be disseminated. However, to answer your questions:

* It rips to a .dvdmedia "bundle", which is natively supported by Apple and the built in DVD Player app. All that is is a DVD-like folder with Video_TS, VOB, and other DVD files, with the extension .dvdmedia - seriously. So again, it's basically a bit-for-bit copy of your DVD, minus copy protection. Note, a future 1.0 point release will include support for ISO copying as well (since Toast seems to have issues with Video_TS folders). Expect to see it as early as next month.

* It does remove CSS, but it doesn't remove region encoding or any of those annoying "Not Allowed" messages you get when you want to fast forward through the FBI warning. This is all "currently", and it does read and copy from any region DVD.

* Right now, a purchase includes all point upgrades.

* The trial version is a fully-featured, 7 day time trial. For those 7 days, rip to your heart's content.

* As for Apple Scripting, I don't know much about it, so I'm not sure.

Hope this helps!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know, am friends with, and write software with the developer of RipIt.

@Anonymous - this is a full, bit-for-bit, minus copy protection copy of the DVD. This means everything is as lossless as it is on the DVD itself. Now, this does come at the expense of space - from 4-7+ gig of space per movie. That can easily be transcoded down in size after the ripping process is complete.

I can tell you this - every single DVD that is reported as not working (which is down to about 8 in close to 11,000 unique DVDs and hundreds of thousands of rips so far) is hunted down, purchased, and made to work. The release notes in each release of RipIt, which come out about once a month or so, contain a list of each reportedly broken disc which now rips just fine.

@John Williams - the app uses Core Animation for the UI and visual effects. A disc can only look so many ways on an app, and ripping off the look and feel of Disco never crossed our minds - and we're heavy users of Disco. The background is black and the disc does spin, but what else were we supposed to do? :)

Also, putting "app" at the end of a URL is relatively standard in Mac software development, and is not a rip off of Disco's URL. That's just silly.

I'd be happy to answer any straight questions anyone has. There IS a free trial, that is unencumbered, minus a time limit (7 days). So give it a try! Happy ripping!

Very cool, but SERIOUSLY overpriced.

To me, it's a simpler rehashing of the above comments about military service. A guy survives a day of fighting for his life and the lives of the men around him (not to mention all of us back home) and when he survives the battle, someone's gonna tell him he can't have a beer. That takes stones. It's also a touch heartless.

Municipalities have every right to set up a program that benefits everyone in the city, not to mention the businesses that pay millions in taxes to the cities.

Living in Philadelphia, one of Earthlink's original sites, city WiFi has been met with some skepticism from some, but the parks are full of people on city WiFi, many that work relatively closely, some that work for themselves and want internet anywhere.

Not to mention, of course, that with Philadelphia anyway, it's hardly free. $10/m promo for a little while, but the true price is $20/m. That's hardly free, but the city investing in the infrastructure made it possible for people to pay for this particular service - just as they pay for sewer, trash pick up, water, etc - all of which are city services.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061124-8280.html

It's legal, via the DMCA restrictions list, to unlock your phone - and here's the fun part - specifically because the locking is only used to support a business model. If this goes to court, Apple will have a hard time defending a stance that both Congress and the Register of Copyrights have declared legal.

Further, companies are often read the riot act by judges when trying to void out their responsibility for a product they sold, especially when the particular function the user employed was... legal.

Ben's got it right. In case his post is removed for... "dirty words", here's the crux of it:

"Philadelphia currently has one of the highest murder rates in the country. What is our dead beat mayor doing? Sitting in line for an iPhone."

Here's a mayor that had the FBI bug his office, has seen half his staff go to jail, has been implicated by just about everyone that WENT to jail with being complacent if not outright a participant in criminal activities, etc. Philadelphia grew by -60k people last year. We're in a housing crisis - million dollar condos everywhere, and 200+ murders already keeping people out of the city.

If you want to give Street props for anything, how about landing himself a cushy job, getting paid by my taxes, averting criminal charges (which I still don't understand) and having the balls to be out waiting for a damn iPhone.

When I first woke up this morning and saw that he was out there, naturally I assumed that he had solved the murder crisis, along with the looming public transportation crisis, budget problem, and the city's numerous other problems. Then I read the rest of the news, and realized that he's just a jerk.