DVD Audio Ripper And Get The Sound From DVDs?

I have a lot of DVD’s (I’m a huge movie person, as are a lot of people out there). I love to watch DVD’s because the video quality is outstanding (much better than VHS back in the day, or even the standard definition TV quality of today). Not only that, but the sound quality is amazing. I have my DVD player hooked up through my big screen TV and my surround sound system—and man, when there is an explosion, you can literally feel it from the subwoofer. From the lowest of rumbling lows (like the aforementioned explosion, or say, an earthquake) to the highest of twinkling highs (like the crisp sound of an ‘s’ in a person’s voice, or the sound of shattering glass), DVD’s produce clear sound like no other (in particular, if you have a home theatre sound system).

What makes DVD’s sound so great is that their sound is superior to that of CD’s. CD’s can store less information (as I’m sure you can imagine), so their quality is limited. To me, CD’s sound great, though—don’t get me wrong. But I was thinking recently about how cool it would be to get just the soundtrack from a DVD. It would be awesome! Think about it: emailing a friend your favorite Seinfeld standup joke as an mp3, or saving an mp3 of the Empire Strikes Back theme to play at parties or in the car.

So I thought about going online and trying to find a DVD Audio Ripper—ah, but where to begin??? When it comes to finding software, there are a lot of sites I don’t trust. But there are a few that I do. The main one is majorgeeks.com (There are many others, such as softpedia.com and download.com, but they’re not quite as trustworthy—it’s kind of a “here-and-there” situation with those two.) But major geeks dot com has never led me astray. I find a lot of free programs, as well as ones that are reasonably priced.

Naturally, bear in mind: you do have to be careful to pay attention to the details when you download anything—especially free software! Make sure you read the description to find out if it’s a “free trial” or whether it’s just plain free. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve downloaded something which I thought to be free… And then after using it for a day or so a prompt popped up, said the trial had expired, and said I needed to pay around a hundred bucks to keep using it. What a rip! In this case, I’m thinking, “Yeah, I wanna rip audio from DVD’s but not pay a fortune, here, people! Hello!!!”

So yeah, be careful. There are three different descriptions to watch for when you download something like a free DVD audio ripper. Demo versions: pretty self-explanatory, they allow you to try before you buy, usually for a limited time. Shareware: this is usually basically free, but it encourages you to actually purchase the program if you like it and think you’ll use it. And finally, Freeware: this one is my favorite, and it’s what I encourage you to look at first. Freeware is totally free, nothing to buy ever. But again, remember to use precautions when downloading anything that’s supposed to be “free,” and uncheck toolbars and other things that might try to install in the process. And hey, if the free ones don’t work out, perhaps it’s worth shelling out a few, if you’ve got ‘em, you know?

I hope you find a great DVD audio ripper, and any other software you’re looking for, and I hope this helps!