why can't I make a digital recording of a DVD?

Tvad,

Fundamentaly I agree - there are lots of "excuses" for illegal copying - archival seems like one (given CD's durability).

Yet there are good practical reasons to want to copy some material. For example, a handful of burned CD's with selected tracks that came from original CD's (most often) or the occasional DVD are not doing harm to the industry, provided the owner keeps all the originals and there is no sharing going on. In this case, the owner might have the original in a CD Mega changer and another copy on a compilation in the car. The car copies don't last as they get scratched very quickly (often stored incorrectly, floating about in the box under the arm rest). It is harder to change CD's in a car and hence the advantage of a compilation geared to tastes.

Should this kind of use be illegal - I think not.

Shadorne, my post was intended to discuss copying of entire original discs, which is the one instance in which making a single copy of an album is legal. Clearly, very few people respect copyright laws when it comes to copying music, but it's precisely this disregard that adds to the cost of buying music.

"didnt there used to be a thread that stated the Samsung HD841 was trying to get pulled from the market and threatned with litigation because it did not block a copy transfer?"

Oh, that little $99 jewel of a universal player I picked up at Best Buy makes me happier by the day...

Maybe the solution is simpler than all that. Do you have the output on your DVD player set to PCM? Maybe the CD player is choking on the Dolby Digital bitstream.

Hudsonhawk, you were right- I had it set to dolby digital and when changed it to PCM, was able to make the digital recording. Awesome! Thanks for the tip.