[Hampshire] Ripping DVDs?

Hi,

Any suggestions on the quickest/easiest way to rip some DVDs to files
viewable on my laptop?

Nothing too illegal here, I have some DVDs that were recorded from the TV
with my DVD recorder and I'd like to take those away with me when I
travel, but my laptop doesn't have a DVD drive. Yes I realise that is
still probably technically illegal, but it comes under fair usage in my
mind... I'm not trying to circumvent any copy protection, and I probably
won't keep the ripped files beyond watching them once.

Being able to compress the files a bit more would be nice as well, but not
essential.

Also while kinda on the subject, any suggestions for just extracting audio
from a DVD or video clip?

Andy