Having tried DVD ripping software in the past and not being impressed I have tended to not even bother in the last few years, so I was a little doubtful when we got an e-mail asking us to review some MacX DVD Ripper Pro software (for Windows or Mac, even though the name suggests it would just be Mac).

Immediately I was impressed that it was not CPU intensive, looked fairly sleek, and had options, options, and more options when it comes to how you would like the files formatted.

Although this is a screencap from the web, this is exactly what the program looks like (except I was ripping Moneyball and not Transformers)

As the digital era continues to charge forward the shelf space my DVD’s are taking up seem more and more pointless. My new answer? To rip everything to my computer and use that space for whatever my little heart desires.

To get an idea of how this program works, let me break down an already very easy process….

1) Put a DVD in your computer

2) Open MacX DVD Ripper Pro

3) Choose if you would like to save the content of the DVD as an AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, FLV, MOV, to your music folder, to your iPod, to your Apple TV, to your iPhone, iPad or tablet, HTC, Samsung, to your PSP, or 3GP. Seriously all of those options are neatly available from the start screen.

4) And then click Start. The program will automatically detect what settings will be best, but you can change them if it suits you.

And you are done.

I tested the product on two DVD’s, one being my Violin Instruction DVD and the second being my copy of Moneyball. I really liked that I could view the files on the DVD’s separately and choose which I wanted to save/format. In the case of Moneyball this meant that I could choose to either include or exclude all of the previews. Now who has the last laugh commercials?!

The program works at speeds ranging from lightning fast to moderately fast depending on the quality of the DVD. I didn’t feel like the program ever went slow and luckily it is CPU light so I could continue to surf the web while my DVD ripped. =)

All said and done I found MacX Ripper Pro to be extremely hassle free and enjoyable.  For me it makes moving into the digital era a little less of a pain in the butt.  If I have to assign a number rating to this I give it an 9 out of 10, with my only gripe being that its name is misleading to Windows users like me.