DVD Shrink

It's your own personal on-disc therapist! No, actually it's a handy program for people who want to create backup copies of DVDs on their PC's hard drive. Later, they can use Windows Media Center or another DVD media player to play the DVDs on their computer. DVD Shrink lets you rip the DVD to your hard disk in various formats, including a lossless one that retains the original disc's image and audio quality. Other format options let you save hard-drive space. And you can customize the quality setting for any new DVD.

DVD Shrink preserves all of the original DVD's content, including menus, trailers, and subtitles. Or if you prefer, you can eliminate any such content. Best of all, the program is

free.