Backing up DVD’s

Being a fulltimer means some compromises.  I am happy to compromise on most things but I still want my entertainment with me.

I love my books, music and films.  However storing them like you do in a house is not practical.  Keeping shelves of DVD’s and books just doesn’t work in a motorhome.

Thanks to the digital age this is not an issue any more.  I have imported my entire CD collection into iTunes,  I have started buying ebooks for my Sony PRS-505 rather than the dead tree variety.  Unfortunately DVD’s do not come quite so easily into the digital age.  Fortunately after some trial and error and some wasted money I have found a solution.

I use AnyDVD and Handbrake to rip the DVD’s to my hard disk and then store the DVD’s themselves in a cupboard along with my books and CD’s.  This has a couple of advantages.

• No shelving needed
• No more scratched or lost DVD’s
• Very quick to browse and find any DVD I want.

Using Amazon.co.uk and the windows 7 Snipping Tool I can also have the DVD cover imported into iTunes so that they also look good as well.

I now have a rule that when I buy a new DVD I am not allowed to watch it until it is Ripped.  I am also doing around 5 DVD’s a day out of my collection so that in a couple of weeks I will have all my DVD’s stored and imported into iTunes properly.

I find I am now watching the DVD’s more than once which I never did before.