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$149.00 |
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DVD X Copy | Out of Business |
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WARNING: 321 Studio's has ceased business operations. See www.321studios.com.
We will leave them in the list for a little while since they are such a well known name. This will help warn people who may unknowingly buy old stock which is still circulating or stumble across an out-of-date review which recommends them.
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Overall
No longer recommended -- We've left 321 Studios in our list since it was once our preferred choice and WAS the most dominate product in the marketplace. They lost a recent court case forcing them to remove support for backing up encrypted (commercial) DVDs and can no longer help you if you run into problems. Support was their previous strength and why they were worth the higher price. Now they remain expensive and cannot offer the same level of support you will find with the others.
Lawsuit Loss (The Beginning of the End)
321 Studios, the developers of DVDxCopy, were sued by the entertainment industry of the United States, copy protection developer Macrovision and the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA). The basis of the lawsuit was to prevent the inclusion of CSS copy protection decryption support. The lawsuit was successful and although 321 Studios was still allowed to sell their software, they were ordered to remove the decryption (ripper) support.
Here are a few quotes from 321 Studios website (link - no longer works )
"As a result of our complying with a recent court order, our Ripper-Free products will not contain a DVD ripper that previously allowed you to read a CSS encrypted movie. If you attempt to read a CSS encrypted movie, you will receive a message stating that our product cannot read a CSS encrypted movie."
and
"321 Studios is not presently permitted to manufacture, distribute or even provide a link to DVD ripper software"
Part of the previous appeal of 321 Studios' products was the outstanding support available. As you see from the quotes above, they legally can NOT offer you any support if you are having trouble backing up a commercial DVD. This has left them in a weak position with a high priced product.
Ceased Business Operations (Software Can't be Activated)
After this long and expensive legal battle, 321 Studios finally gave up on their "ripper free" version and ceased business operations. A visit to www.dvdxcopy.com shows they don't even have a website active anymore. This is a big problem for existing owners of DVD X Copy. If you have to reinstall the software you will NOT be able to activate it since the activation site no longer exists.
WARNING: Although you can still buy DVD X Copy at sites with old stock or "international" sites... you might not be able to activate it. Even if you are able to activate it, you are paying far too much for a program that is now out of date.
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