It seems that the legality of my original article was in question, so I've decided to play it safe and replace it with this text. Although I thought the issues of fair use and the court cases surrounding 321 Studios DVD copying software had been resolved, one look at their web site indicates that this isn't the case (read this Wired article for more detail). After a little searching, even Kaleidescape, a product I mentioned in my original post that has been around for quite some time, has had recent legal troubles. I certainly hope that—like CDs—we can someday enjoy legal copies of our licensed material for use with products like Media Center.
I too had hope to read your original article "MCE DVD Ripper". There's an issue that may need resolved concerning MS updates not wanted - I wonder if you had spoke on this?