[*Shira*]

I wouldn't recommend using RealPlayer technology. It really loses video quality, making fuzzy what was previously a clear image. I also find their ethics questionable. RealPlayer dreadfully invades your privacy, sending "marketing" information about you and your computer to the parent company - information that most people would consider to be private. I don't know whether they still do this, but they used to sell to spammers the email addresses of people who downloaded their RealPlayer.

One DVD can hold about 4.75 gigabytes of data. I don't know how many DVD's you're planning to archive, but bear in mind that if it's more than a couple you'll need huge amounts of hard drive space, perhaps needing an external hard drive.

If you're serious about keeping your DVD's for the long term, you'll need to buy double what you think you need so that you can have a backup copy to save in a safe place, preferably not at the same location where your computer is. I've occasionally had hard drives go bad on me - in fact, one that I bought in April went bad in June, after having it only two months. (Tip: avoid SimpleTech, that's the brand that went bad on me.) I lost backups for all three of my computers as a result, but at least it was only backups instead of important data. Backups can be replaced as long as the original computer is still in good condition, important data sometimes cannot.

If saving space is your primary motivation, another option to consider that would be considerably less hassle and expense than the computer approach is to buy yourself one of those CD wallets that can hold 64 (or more) disks. Take your DVD's out of their jewel cases and put them in the CD wallet, then discard the jewel cases. That'll free up huge amounts of space for you.

And remember, it would be illegal and unethical for you to give away (or sell) your original DVD's to someone else after making a copy for yourself.