something I feel smart about

I have kids...
What?
you didn't notice?

well moving right along then.
who's children know how to load their own DVDs? Who has lost (meaning had a DVD ruined) a DVD due to their independent children? It sucks doesn't it. You spend 20ish dollars on a DVD and no one wants to do that twice. Did you know burning a copy of something you own to keep as a back up is not a federal offense. In fact it's recommended in some form or another. Disney has a thing to protect against kids ruining DVDs. It's called their Disc Replacement Program. If you haven't registered the disks you own... you should. You have to register... obviously so they can keep a list of DVDs you have purchased. My only problem with this is it still costs "a nominal charge of $6.95." It's still a good thing though... but in my opinion, even better is the cost of a burnable DVD.

So I did some research and found a way to back up my DVD's (for free... except for cost of DVD+R). I keep the original copies in a safe place and put the burned copies out for the kids. I still try to teach them proper care of DVDs but at least my stress level is less becuase I know I have the original safely tucked away.

Want to know what spurred this little thought? Oh the fact that I let Olea touch a DVD before I backed it up... and I'm not totally sure I can get it working again... So I feel smart about the other ones that I did protect from her not so careful hands.