How do I capture a song on a DVD to my iPod?

General Questions
#1

NOTE: I’m only interested in the legal, above board process.

I bought a DVD of a TV series (the wonderful Canadian show, SLINGS AND ARROWS, but that’s not relevant.) The opening “scene” in “play by scenes” is the opening credits which has the wonderful song, “Cheer up, Hamlet.” I would like to capture that song on my computer for the iPod.

I have QuickTime for DVD playing, but I’ve not been successful in figuring out how to pick up only the audio portion for the iPod. Can someone explain in simple, non-technical, easy-to-follow steps, please?

Thanks in advance!

#2

You’re probably going to need to find a piece of software that can do audio captures from DVD video.

#3

I can think of a real easy way that doesn’t require demuxing software (rip the video and audo, separate one from the other, etc…)

I will assume you have some kind of audio recording program. Your Windows Mixer’s Recording properties should have a channel for “What You Hear” or “Stereo Mix” or something similar. Check the box to open this recording source. Start the recording program. Play the DVD in the drive, and it should pass the audio signal through the sound card, and the recording program should pick it up and record it.

Record it as a 44,100 Hz, 16-bit stereo audio file. Then, convert it to whatever format the iPod accepts. If it’s mp3, that’s easy. If it’s a proprietary format, that’s where my knowledge ends. If you need some free software recommendations, come back and let us know what you need.

#4

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll try it in the next few days and report back!

#5

Hey, Dex, I was wondering if you had any luck in getting a recording.

#6

Cleverly, my son borrowed the DVD, so I don’t have it and haven’t tried. Sigh.

I’ll let ya know.

#7

On my Mac I got a crippleware program called Audio Hijack. It’s pretty self explanatory. It grabs (“hijacks”) the audio feed from an application and records a wav file. Without paying for it the sound quality degrades after ten minutes, but that’s enough to get most songs.

#8

A much dirtier and complicated solution, but one that’s guaranteed to work:

Run a cable from the audio out on the DVD player to the line-in jack on your sound card, and use Audacity (free) to capture it as a WAV. Then clean it up and convert it to MP3.

#9

First you write a nice letter to the copyright owner, asking for their permission to make a legal copy. Then you wait for their reply before you do anything else.

#10

Welcome to the analog hole. No, it’s not robot porn.

Try Audacity.