If I were so inclined to rip a DVD, how do I go about that? Do I need a DVD burner to make an mpeg?
It would stand to reason that a DVD-quality movie would take up a significant amount of space, and would require several CD's. Ideally, you'd probably want to record on a DVD.
Most movie DVDs are on double layer DVDs. You would theoritcially need a double densitity DVD drive such as the Sony ( http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?CategoryName=&ProductSKU=DRU710A&TabName=specs ).
There is a program that will make copies of DVDs. I can't remember the name of it but I, theoretically, have an icon for it on my home computer's desktop.
BTW-This is the drive I have on my computer. I got it at Costco for $150 with a coupon: http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=100140&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&ct=0&BV_SessionID=@@@@1413779004.1112212519@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchaddefdmfeflcfngcfkmdffhdffk.0
If you're going to do it, buy a DVD-R drive. Rip to DVD-R using DVD Shrink and DVD Encoder (or one of many others).
In theory, BlazeDVD from http://www.blazevideo.com will make a copy of a double layer movie DVD to a double layer DVD R.