{Cursing}

One of the best things about this time of year is new movies.

One of the worst things about this time of year is getting new movies transformed into movies that'll work on an iPod.

Sure, there's lots of "free" software out there. But it's not until you've downloaded this totally free software that you find out either your movies will have a watermark, or you'll get only the first three minutes of your movie, unless you shell out for the full version. Isn't this the Internet? Aren't y'all supposed to be giving this stuff away, just like you want the music and movie people to let you do with your DVD ripping software? Sure, the license agreements may say you agree not to distribute the "output" to your friends, but they may as well put a big "WINK WINK" in there because they know what's gonna happen, and that little clause is put in the license to absolve them of any wrongdoing should you do just what they expect you'll do.

Not that I'd do it. I'm stingy. And I'm also not willing to expose myself to a lawsuit.

So I'm falling back on the old standbys, DVD Ripper and Videora iPod Converter, and it's scattershot whether they'll work or not. Yeah, I could spring for the software, but a big part of me really, really doesn't want to spend that kind of money to make my movies work on the iPod.

I don't mind that they want to make money. They ought to have the right to the fruits of their labors, just like the music folks. No double standards. I just wish they'd tell me about the three minute thing or the watermark thing up front, before I download the software, install it, get all excited and then dump the whole thing into the poubelle after I find the restrictions. And enticing me with multiple windows with which I could change my mind and purchase said software doesn't work. It makes me madder. I have a list of the offenders. I won't visit their sites again, and even if I find myself in the market for such a product, they're off the list because of that initial, superior deception, as Dudley Do-Right would say, but why anyone would listen to a person with a hyphenated last name is beyond me.