I’m sure a way exists to take audio from a DVD and save it as some sort of audio-only file. What software do I need to do this? Can I save the entire soundtrack and then pull out only the things I want?
I own the DVD, and I’m not planning to distribute any sound files outside my own PC.
I am sure that there is some kind of software solution to this. However, it is likely to work just as well for copyright violations, as for the fair use you propose.
Thus, were I in your shoes, I would do as follows:
[ol]
[li]Run a cable from the speaker-out socket to a device that records audio.[/li][li]Then, take the audio you recorded, and crate an audio file of it.[/li][/ol]
That is also as likely to work for copyright violations as it is for the legitimate purpose described in the OP.
633squadron, check out www.videohelp.com for tutorials and software you can use for this and other video conversion tasks.
Most commercial DVDs are encrypted. Breaking the encryption, while easy to do and often the only way you can exercise your fair use rights, is illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But if you have an unencrypted DVD (many adult DVDs, for example, are unencrypted), you can legally extract the audio by using a demultiplexing tool - search for “VOB demuxer”.
This will produce a file containing the audio in whatever format it’s encoded with for the DVD, which is usually Dolby Digital (AC3) for North American DVDs. You can use a program called BeSweet to convert from that format to WAV or MP3.
You have options. You can get a dvd ripper as most will pull off the audio as a separate file. That doesn’t mean it will be a useable form, however, so I suggest you read the tutorials at:
You could also do the computer version of the above suggestion and use an audio capture utility to grab the audio off your soundcard as the DVD plays on your system.
Well, yes. For the same reason, you could be in violation of the DMCA for owning a marker. However, you are more likely (theoretically, at least) to be legally hassled by a goon for owning software, then for owning a male/male headphone cable.