I'm 100% ethically comfortable with ripping DVDs that I own, whatever the law states, even though I'm generally in favor of protecting intellectual property. I'd say there is a large difference between ripping a DVD I own and downloading protected content I have never payed for. Of course, I know there are tons of people who have no ethical difficult with the latter either, so at that point I guess it all comes down to what your conscious allows. That certainly does cloud the question of what the best options are in a general discussion though.