DVD X Copy Q and A

Quite a few users contacted me over the weekend after reading last Saturday's article regarding 321 Studios and DVD X Copy. I have decided to follow up this discussion with some Q & A.

Side note: To recap -- on February 20th, "a federal court ruled that 321 Studios must stop making software that allows users to copy DVDs ... [The] St. Louis-based [company] said it would appeal the ruling ... which has barred 321 from selling its DVD copying software [by February 27th, 2004]. " (Source: Reuters.com).

Infopackets Reader Rafael C. asks:

" Regarding your February 21st news article on DVD X Copy and 321 Studios: since the courts have prohibited 321 Studios from selling DVD X Copy, what happens with the copies already sold? Are owners still allowed to use them? "

My response:

Good question.

It is my understanding that the software will remain valid -- which is why everyone is in a hurry to buy a copy before February 27th. In fact, quite a few users complained over the weekend because the link to 321 Studios would not work. When I visited the 321studios.com, I found it to be very slow (surely due to the high volume of traffic hitting the site).

Support for the DVD X Copy suite will not be dropped entirely. There are support forums buzzing full of helpful information and I'm sure this will continue for quite some time. And, as I stated previously: if the current court ruling holds, 321 Studios has "vowed to replace its products with a modified version which ... [can be used for its] compression technology, [however, users would have to download] so-called 'ripper' software off the Internet [in order to extract the movies from DVD]." (Source: Reuters.com).

The extra steps to extract [rip] a movie will surely add confusion to the entire backup process -- which is why DVD X Copy is such an attractive piece of software. As it stands now, DVD X Copy does the 'ripping' for you.

The next comment comes from fellow Canadian William C. from Peterborough, Ontario:

" [After reading your article about the court's decision regarding 321 Studios, I decided to visit their site and grabbed] a trial version of the DVD X Copy Xpress. Hopefully, if I decide to buy it, a license will still be available in a few weeks. "

My response:

Unfortunately, that won't be possible. The ruling states that 321 Studios is not allowed to sell any more copies of DVD X Copy after February 27th -- which is in 3 days!

As far as I understand, boxed copies of DVD X Copy have already been pulled off of retail outlet (local store) shelves.

Glenn S. from Ontario comments:

" Here we go again -- another sad picture of our society. The court [would not have] ordered the company to stop making their software if people did not steal. The very ones who are going to scream the loudest about this case are likely the very ones making illegal copies of DVD's. It is really ironic how people hate it when people steal from them, but then think it is fine when they steal from others. "

My response:

Excellent point.

It is really is a shame that the ones who abuse the technology ruin it for the rest of us. DVD X Copy is a great piece of software for backing up DVDs -- when used appropriately -- especially for cloning those "special edition" DVDs which are no longer in production.

And finally, Infopackets Reader Steve C. writes:

" A few weeks back I was going to purchase DVD X Copy through another site. After reading your article, I clicked to purchase DVD Xpress but didn't see the mail-in rebate coupon that was once present (I think it was for $15.00). Any ideas? "

My response:

I contacted Amy Plankis at 321 Studios about this. The official word is that all rebates / instant coupons have been pulled from the site due to all the publicity they will be receiving in the next few days to come (and most likely to make it a fair playing field for all affiliates of 321 studios).