How to remove frets?

I would like to add fretless bass to some home recordings I'm just starting, but don't own one already, and cannot find one for sale in my home town unless I buy brand new. Its only a hobby for me so I would prefer to buy a 2nd hand fretless, but
I might consider buying a 2nd hand fretted bass, then remove the frets from it...

I've never de-fretted a bass before, and only know it has been done, without knowing the method by which I do this.

That is my question...what is the method for removing frets from a fretboard? I'm not sure if I can just knock them out with a punch, or do I have to pry them out?

Any info will be of great help to me!

I wondered if that may be the case. My fretted bass has a hard as nails board, but I loathe to rip the frets off since it has a great slap sound...

My local music shop dude might only stock d'Addario, Ernie Ball, and
I think a few others, but I'd have to check. First things first is to get a bass sorted...

Thanks for all the help everyone who replied!

Excellent. I love the sound, and I annoy a friend who runs a music shop, by going in and playing on any new fretless he might have on the rack. I just have to get my own one, and defretting a cheap-as fretted will be what I do. I've got some OK Schecter pickups to install if the bass I buy has crappy ones.

On the topic of strings...what is peoples preference? Flatwound?
Roundwound? Semi-rounds? I'd like a bit of brightness and growl to the sound (think Pino Palladino and thats what I'm after), but am not sure if that can be got with pure flatwounds...

For fretless, roundwounds are my favorite. I love flats but only on fretted basses. Most bassists use rounds on their fretless basses, too.

Here's a pretty good link, Chris - I know there are better ones but can't find the one I'm looking for.
http://tinyurl.com/39f6r

Note the use of a soldering iron to heat the fret before removal.

This is me doing mine:
http://tinyurl.com/39lt6

And this is where I got all of the tips for trying to do it properly, with compliments from Mr. Rob Kloka:
http://www.geocities.com/charlesarms/
http://shop.timwebworks.com/bg_usr1/r_defret.asp http://www.seangallagher.net/Miscellany/Defretting/ defretting.html
http://www.mikelull.com/fretless%20conversion/ conversion1.htm http://bassland.net/howto1.htm
http://www.teachmebass.com/defretting.html http://archive.bassplayer.com/z2000/0004/ frettech.shtml

Good luck!