ripping

Ripping (also referred to as digital audio extraction) is the process of copying the audio or video data from one media form, such as DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray or CD, to a hard disk. While the original media is typically digital, the extraction of analog media such as VHS video or vinyl records to a digital format can also be referred to as "ripping". To conserve storage space, the copied data is usually encoded in a compressed format such as MP3, WMA, FLAC or Ogg Vorbis for audio, or MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD or Ogg Theora for video.

The term has been adopted to refer to audio extraction/duplication, though this use of the term is less common.

The etymology of the word "rip" in this context is probably from the acronym for Raster Image Processor from the field of computer image printing. A RIP converts high-level instructions for an image or page to be printed into a bitmap, thus realizing the image in a form that can be directly converted into a printed page by any suitable printer; in the process, the final resolution of the image is established, and this resolution can be different than that of the original representation. Thus, the step is known as "RIPing." The connection to audio is that extracting audio from one source and placing it on a hard disk or the like is an analogous process, placing the audio information in an essentially rendered form, possibly with a different resolution (e.g., sample rate or compression level), awaiting only a "printer," e.g. a digital-to-analog converter and associated electronics, to fully realize the final sound. The term "rip" in this context soon lost its connection to image processing since (a) the early music "rippers" were only computer insiders, the "digital cognoscenti," who knew the subtle connection to computer imaging, (b) the image processing connection is (now) largely unknown to the vast majority of those involved in "ripping" music, (c) to "rip" something from its substrate or containing structure is common English slang, synonymous with "tear," and is an appealing description of extracting audio from its medium, (d) to "rip off" is (American) English slang for "to steal," thus referring to the frequent underlying illegality of copying music, and (e) the term "rip" has a generally antisocial aura, again referring to the underlying illegitimacy of the act of transferring music from one medium to another without the copyright holder's permission.

Purpose

For consumers of digital content, there are a number of practical uses for ripping. Many digital camcorders now write directly to DVD. Ripping is required to extract that content onto a computer for editing, storage, duplication or backup purposes. Another is to allow the owners of CDs or DVDs to listen to or view that content in a more flexible way. For example, ripping can allow users to listen to music from a number of different albums without having to change discs and make customized playlists of the music. Ripping can also be used to allow music to be played on portable digital audio players.

Ripper

A person who does this in a semi-professional way is normally referred to as a Ripper. Normally they are fans of a particular artist or type of creative production, so they put great effort in providing high quality rips. Eventually they become a kind of brand and they gain notoriety in the fan community.

Problems

Ripping may not capture all data on an audio CD. CD-Text may be captured, but additional [[CD+G]] data such as lyrics and graphics present on some CDs may be ignored by ripping software, preventing an identical backup and recreation of the original CD.

Legal problems and status

Ripping also allows content to be losslessly copied for a very low or essentially zero cost and given to those who did not purchase it, possibly substituting for sales of content. Hence it has aroused fierce opposition by the recording industry, who view it as theft.

Since the music or video is transferred to a data file, the files can be shared with other computer users over the Internet.

Although it is legal in the United States to make backup copies of software, the legality of ripping music for personal use without the permission of the copyright holder is controversial. Historically, copying media for personal use was established to be Fair Use under U.S. Copyright by the Supreme Court in the Sony Betamax doctrine. On the other hand, the RIAA, which represents many music copyright holders has maintained that copying rights have not been granted to end users and that Fair Use does not apply.^[1]

Depending on the outcome of the trial including the RIAA v. Jammie Thomas, even ripping a cd without permission from the owner of the copyright, even for personal use may be illegal. ^[2] Of course this may backfire since during the 80's creating a mix tape was legal, and was encouraged as part of the music experience. The RIAA may very well shoot themselves in the foot over this argument.

However, in oral arguments before the Supreme Court in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., Don Verrilli, representing MGM stated:

"And let me clarify something I think is unclear from the amicus briefs. The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their Website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod. There is a very, very significant lawful commercial use for that device, going forward."^[3]

Selling software to circumvent copy-protection in commercial DVDs is illegal.^[4]

In countries such as Spain, anyone is allowed to make a private copy of a copyrighted material for oneself and the source copy does not even have to be legal. Making copies for other people, however, is forbidden if done for profit. In the United Kingdom, making a private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner's consent is illegal: this includes ripping music from a CD to a computer or digital music player.^[5][6] The development of radio music ripping may fuel further legal debates on the topic.

Process and history

Ripping speed

The speed at which a CD or DVD can be ripped is often expressed as a multiplier, such as 12X (means 12 times faster than standard playing speed). Important in estimating ripping speeds are:

• the media-player's speed: a CD has a maximum rotation speed and as the media players get closer and closer to that limit (e.g., a player that can read a CD at 60x the normal speed). It is also important where the laser head is. It starts reading closest to the center (lowest bitrate for a given rotation speed) and goes to the border of the CD (highest bitrate)
• the interface between the player and the encoding device: this might be extremely fast (SCSI) to very slow (USB 1.1 or even over an Ethernet network)
• the encoding device (in most cases a PC) will in most cases encode the digital input to a compressed format. This is a highly CPU-intensive task, so various factors such as the CPU's clock speed, architecture, and design affect encoding speed.
• the encoding algorithm/quality: 64 kbit/s encoding might be faster/slower than 192 kbit/s ^{[citation needed]}
• the compressed file is then written to a disk. Again this might be very fast (SCSI or FireWire) or rather slow (over 10 Mbit/s Ethernet or to a flash card)
• Physical condition of the original media and read errors may affect ripping speed negatively by requiring repeated reads, or its accuracy, by ignoring read errors upon the user's request.
• Some rippers, like Exact Audio Copy, will rip multiple times and compare the result to make sure that the ripped file is accurate. This slows down the ripping but will make sure that the output is an accurate copy, and let the user know if the output has any faults.

The combination of these elements will define what the maximum ripping speed is.

See also

• Game rip
• Bandwidth of devices
• CD ripper
• Radio music ripping
• Digital Rights Management

References

External links

• Etymology of ripping

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