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Consumer Alert: Copy Controls Crackdown

Battle rages on several fronts, but technology offers answers for both sides.

By Frank Thorsberg, PCW Print   

Update on DVD Copying Apps

Whether it's okay--or illegal--to make back-up versions of copy-protected DVD movies may be contested in court for some time to come.

But a pending federal ruling didn't stop scrappy 321 Studios from releasing a new, streamlined version of its program for copying even the longest movies onto a single disc. The earlier version, priced at $99, nearly always required splitting the movie between two discs, but it copies all of the DVD's data; DVD X Copy Express copies only the movie and soundtrack.

PCWorld.com's downloads section includes a 14-day trial version of DVD X Copy Express. A full version costs $70.

Pinnacle Systems markets InstantCopy (retail price: $50). The program can create, copy, and store just about any type of unencrypted video, audio, photo, or data disk. InstantCopy can also record movies onto a single DVD, but the software works only with movies that do not have copyright controls in place. InterVideo recently released WinDVD Copy, which makes 1:1 copies of DVDs and CDs intended for archive and backup. The $60 program cannot copy movies that are encrypted with the common CSS copy protection code.

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