How To Rip Your Concert DVDs To MP3s

It's possible to convert a concert or music-oriented DVD and to the MP3 format so you can enjoy the same DVD concert in iPod audio form. This will involve a series of steps using a series of free apps. This article will guide you on how to transfer your DVD to your computer as a video file, convert it into an audio file, split it up in smaller parts per song, port to iTunes, and finally sync it to your iPod/iPhone.

There are three things you need to be able to rip and convert to a concert DVD to MP3 (all freeware).

• Handbrake
• Switch
• WavePad Audio Editor for Mac

Using Handbrake, we will rip the video from your concert DVD. Once the data is ripped, you will end up with a video file of your DVD. This video file will need to be converted to an audio file, specifically in MP3 format. This may be achieved by using a conversion tool called Switch. Switch will generate an MP3 recording of your video, containing all the good concert audio in one long MP3 - which we will split up in smaller files so we can divide it up per song.

Once we're done, we can load the freshly cut MP3s into iTunes, arrange the ID Tags, add album artwork, and sync away to your iPod / iPhone.

Take note though, that ripping DVDs should be done only with your personally owned, legally purchased DVDs.

The first step in the whole process is ripping your concert DVD to a video file. Fortunately enough, a freeware app makes this possible.

Download and install Handbrake if you don't already have it in your system. This freeware app will convert any DVD in your drive to your desired format. You can convert your DVDs for Apple TV, iPods or iPhone, or any popular media format you want.

Insert the DVD you want to rip, and run Handbrake . Select the source ROM drive where the DVD is, choose an output format for the file, and press Start . It takes a while to finish ripping, and the time it takes to finish depends on the length of the video in the DVD.

Once it's done ripping, you'll have the video file in the location you specified.

Next we will be converting this video into MP3 using another program called Switch.

Download and install Switch. This freeware app converts most popular media formats into another audio format. For this guide, we'll be converting a .m4v video file to .mp3. Switch however, can convert most popular media files to .mp3s or any other audio format you can choose from its dropdown.

Simply drag the video file to Switch's window, select .mp3 in the drop down , and specify the output location for the MP3. Click on the Convert button and Switch will process the file. A progress bar will display showing the status of the conversion.

Once it's done, we'll end up with one MP3 file containing the whole audio of the concert DVD. We will need to split this large MP3 into smaller segments so we can browse the resulting set of MP3s much like how you browse songs on an album. To produce separate MP3s per song, we're going to need some audio software that can split one big MP3 into smaller pieces.