Serif adds one of those can't-copy DVD-copying apps

[Bob Crabtree]

Budget software house Serif is the latest company to make a big splash about a program for copying DVDs which, when you look at the small print, can't actually copy the very DVDs most people are very likely to want to - those that are encrypted or otherwise copy-protected.

For a knock-down (but time-limited) £9.95 (inc VAT but excluding £3 P&P), Serif has been offering X-OOM Movie Clone 3, an app that's been sold by its maker X-OOM for over two years, and which is being added to Serif's Extra range of cheapie bought-in products for £15 (inc VAT, ex P&P).

Read more in this HEXUS.lifestyle.headline - including Serif's HEXUS.right2reply response - and don't forget to tell us about your experiences with can't-copy DVD-copying programs.

[autopilot]

LOL, nice one Bob. I never really did see the point of these programs, the fact that there is still a market is a mystery to me yet they keep on coming. Although some firms have alluded to the fact that there could, possibly, might be small third party app's that run in the background and silently remove the encryption as it leaves the drive, which you should not ever consider using.

[nichomach]

The response is a joke. The newsletter bangs on about "your favourite movies", a "movie-theatre experience" and so forth and then goes on to stress the Dolby and DTS support. Exactly how many home movies have a DTS soundtrack, exactly? Or bonus materials? All features in the nice readable Arial 10-point, as opposed to the all but illegible 7.5 point they use for all the "actually this product does naff all useful, and you'd get better value taking your tenner and setting fire to it" stuff that they use as a fig leaf. Pathetic.

It is not Serif’s intention to mislead its customers.

AHA...AHA...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - good one!

[Bemis]

This just makes me sad. "We do not intend to mislead our customers." - What exactly are they trying to do, steal their money for a useless product? Barring consumer ignorance (and thats not exactly a small thing in the technological age) misrepresentation of fact is also known as misleading and/or lying.

Yet another unethical (and probably all too effective) company preying on the stupidity and arrogance of general consumers. Fortunately, at least no Hexus member will ever fall for such a cheap ploy.