Some Reasons To Rip Media &/Or Formats.

Why this page was written: Thoughtless people, promoted by Hollywood, used to be brain washed to believe all riping must surely be immoral, illegal or similar ? Wrong ! Even before many PC notebook computers & smart phone players shrank so there's no room for CDs, DVDs, & external sticks; Some other reasons to rip media &/or formats included:

Safety

Laptops with business travellers etc: The 3 ball bearing laptop mount : Avoid tired / careless / clumsy / people (inc. owner!) needing to push entertainment discs onto fragile laptop drives late evenings etc - better keep it on hard disc.

Backup for home: Discs get watched evenings when people are tired, inebriated, distracted, clumsy etc. Avoid clumsy friends, kids, pets, sticky fingers, scratchy salty peanuts etc - better keep it on hard disk.

I've had newly purchased music CDs progressively radially fracture.

Recovery

Physical media recovery

DVDs are easily scratched.
CDs can get cracked on the inside radius before purchase - before one discovers at home.
DVDs can get wash marks, & other manufacturing errors.
Taking back to shop to argue for replacement not always viable: What if: { Bought in a street market ? Bought in a different city while travelling ? Receipt lost (or present so no receipt) ? Local law might not support exchange even in shop ? Local shop assistants less than helpful ? Foreigner - different human languages ? No time to travel, no wish to argue ? Disabled & not worth travelling again ? } etc.
Sometimes may be easier to rescue the data.

Data recovery

Some original DVDs don't play in some players, some are probably just DVD optics / sensitivity / tracking problems, alignment, off balance spinning etc, but also some DVD disc vendors are so paranoid `protected' some purchased DVDs can be unplayable when they should be.
Region Codes: Might (or not) be enforceable in USA under Hollywood promoted abuse of purchaser rights, supported by some hardware vendors pandering to film studio affiliate business, but Not All USA laws are international law.

Convenience & Ecology: DVDs clutter.

Newer players include USB sockets for RAM Sticks: Unlike disc, not subject to shock, good for eg on a boat, back seat viewers in a car, laptop on a train.

A hard disc or USB stick source, avoids a noisey disc spinning in laptop

Small laptops & hand-helds/ PDAs without a DVD drive: for trains & planes & handicapped (lighter with no DVD drive).

For eg exercise machines, using a (@ 2009.11) 200 Euro combination viewer & ear piece device like large sunglasses, (just on machines where feet remain in contact with moving platforms, eg pedals, not for running on an endless band.)

For business presentations & promotions originally issued on standard DVDs, ripped to watch during travelling, instead of wasting full screen time at home or work.

Avoiding DVD drive & carrying discs, saves power, noise, space, weight, heat, fuel & carbon footprint

One's DVDs at home, ripped into one's central home server computer, networked throughout house to screens, remote controlled, is more convenient than getting up, & walking to another room in the house to play disc jockey.

Personal Taste

One might buy a commercial DVD of eg a flickering fire, intended as restful background, then want to re-master it for personal use to go quietly straight in to the fire with crackling sound, avoiding the manufacturer's loud, crass, un-restful, & brain demanding menu & introductory jarring jangle. Avoiding any perhaps dumb, un-obvious or broken menus, avoiding any default crass music audio channel, re-mastering to default to No music, just crackling log fire audio effect.