Pirating

[Midnightauro]

I only pirate in a handful of cases.
1. I can't actually buy it. Made for TV movie from 2005 from the UK that's not available in the US? Pirate.
2. It's crap. (Some music falls under this category. Download it because someone asked me to, listen to it, hate it, delete it.) Pirate.
3. I already own it somewhere. I'm not paying another 50 bucks for a game I already have for the console just so I can try out some neat mod only for PC. Pirate.

If I absolutely love the artist and have to pirate their work, I'll go out of the way to try to donate (if they take them) or go to a concert, or buy their next movie, etc. I don't mind people who pirate exclusively, it's not my concern what other people spend or don't spend.

Another thing: People against pirating don't understand how complicated it is to get some things to work. Some games?? Even though I wanted to pirate the PC copy (See 3), finding a good one, and getting it to work was so *poptart bleep* annoying that I just gave up and bought it.

[Deleted]

I swear you had that up in german

i did, but i found the original one...which is english ofc

Sucker Punch - Extended Cut - Blueray just arrived in the Mail <-- SEE !!!

afk^^

[Spooh]

I've been using spotify since release, and I haven't pirated music since then. Spotify premium has an acceptable fee / month for almost any song you'd wish to be there. In my opinion solutions like this is how to minimize piracy.

Movies should also have a similar program like spotify. You pay x amount of money for x quality /month. And you get all the movies the second they're off the cinema screens (which by the way should in my opinion be the same date in any country, which would also help A LOT against piracy) Considering movies end at the cinema x days (even months) before they reach several countries.

However, I still pirate movies / TV series due to the fact that I would never buy them if I couldn't download them. Just because I could not affort id, nor bother buying them. (maybe the super good ones, but I usually watch them on cinemas anyway)

Games on the other hand, I never pirate. I think steam is a pretty neat site which keeps sales up to date, and the fact that games are actually valid entertainment for more than 1 hour (comparing to movies and prices). Most games has at least 10+ hours of entertainment, which is worth the current price in the market.

[Bender]

I pirate the following: TV shows, some movies, a bit of music.

I pirate TV shows because if you watch them on Swedish television you're going to be one year behind (at best, most of the time it's more than that).

I pirate some movies that I wont see at the cinema or rent, just to kill time. If they disabled all methods to pirate this content I would just find other stuff to kill that time with, I would not start buying this type of content. I see the movies I believe to be good at the cinema or rent it.

I do buy some music every now and then and pirate some of it. My music library is very small though (358 songs at the current moment) and much of it is free to begin with so anything in this category is extremely negligible.

I never pirate games. I used to when I was younger but nowadays you can get most games from an online service at great speed (steam, or blizzard for example) which removes the need to pirate it. I do not under any circumstance view my piracy activities as me cheating costs in order to save money, it's a symptom of garbage service.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Okay, well I haven't bought a DVD in some time (obviously) - but I'd like to hear your opinion on this here.

If we are talking is it legal or not, I am not sure. I think technically it is considered illegal, but no one would take you to court over it.

If we are talking morally, I think we both know the difference between lending a personal friend a book or CD for a short time, and putting a song file, or a movie file on a website so thousands/millions of strangers can download it for free. Essentially, yes, they are the same. But more practically, and relative to this, they are different for 2 major reason. 1) You cannot possibly share a book with a million people personally. 2) Lending it to someone you know is different than to strangers. I understand the point you are trying to make. But we both know WHY it is different.

Just answer this. If you wrote a book, would you give it out for free? No, you would most likely want money for it. All the money you can get. You worked hard on that book didn't you?

[darkwarrior42]

Generally speaking, I only download stuff I wouldn't have bought anyways... and most of that is stuff I could watch online for free without downloading it, the download is simply a matter of convenience.

Games I pretty much never pirate anymore. I think the last two games I technically pirated were D&D Dragonshard, and Torchlight... the former was uninstalled from my computer after about 36 hours (real time, not play time), the latter I purchased after about an hour of play. I'm aware that there are demos for some games, but many demos are very limited or do not show off the aspects of the game I'm uncertain about. Demos that do adequately demonstrate the game, I make use of (Kingdoms of Amalur for instance; play that demo, you get a good solid feel for the game as a whole). I may have done something similar to another game since, but there's no game I regularly play that I didn't/don't pay for.

@Ophion1900: I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but the difference, at least in the minds of a lot of people, is that there is a difference between you taking something from another person, and that person failing to gain anything from you. If they make a physical item and you steal it, they have physically lost something. If they make something and you obtain a copy without actually depriving them of what they created, they haven't lost anything, they have simply failed to gain anything they might have gained had you bought the item in question. Again, I take no stand on whether that viewpoint is valid, simply pointing out what the difference is.

[alturic]

I don't pirate movies, only music and software.

There is a big difference between Stealing and "Copying"

So, you are saying you are "copying" the music and software, but you are "stealing" the movie? Technically you are stealing both, and using your wierd phrases, you are technically "copying" both.

[Deleted]

I don't pirate, because I can't stand really crappy quality.

Same here.
Camrips/TS on a full HD 56" TV with Surround Sound is just a disgrace

And cant be arsed to download 21 Gigs 1080p Rips.
Rather buy the Blueray for 10 Bucks

[Scummer]

I certainly do believe it's immoral. You are at the very end of the day stealing something that somebody put money an effort into. The music industry isn't grwoing like it used to because people lack the money the money due to piracy.

[Deleted]

If we are talking is it legal or not, I am not sure. I think technically it is considered illegal, but no one would take you to court over it.

So would you (based on what you've said here) refuse to accept someone lending you media or refuse to lend out media to friends on request?

If we are talking morally, I think we both know the difference between lending a personal friend a book or CD for a short time, and putting a song file, or a movie file on a website so thousands/millions of strangers can download it for free.

Okay - but as the downloader or the borrower, what is the real difference between finding an ebook online and borrowing the same book from a friend? Either way it is a lost sale.

Essentially, yes, they are the same. But more practically, and relative to this, they are different for 2 major reason. 1) You cannot possibly share a book with a million people personally. 2) Lending it to someone you know is different than to strangers. I understand the point you are trying to make. But we both know WHY it is different.

I know it is different and it is different solely on the basis that the RIAA and MPAA can't enforce it. They would if they could. A quick read of the crap they've tried to pull in the last 100 years is evidence enough for that.

Just answer this. If you wrote a book, would you give it out for free? No, you would most likely want money for it. All the money you can get. You worked hard on that book didn't you?

I wouldn't complain if people downloaded it. I would not be able to stop it. Additionally I am convinced that recognition will become the new 'currency' if you will in the near future. If you're well known you'll be compensated in recognition, interviews, tours, merchandise, donations, advertisements etc. That's the model that we're moving to either in part or fully.

[alturic]

Same here.
Camrips/TS on a full HD 56" TV with Surround Sound is just a disgrace

And cant be arsed to download 21 Gigs 1080p Rips.
Rather buy the Blueray for 10 Bucks

21gig 1080p rips? Damn, what sites do you download from. I download 1080p at 7gigs at most.

Either way, to the OP I download everything, it's easy and I can do on my own time. I can't remember the last time I bough anything software related, pretty much the only things (software) I buy are online games, which is very few and far between. :P

[Ogretron]

I've had pirate friends tell me how great it is; and I've watched some pirated movies that they gave me. They were grainy, blacks were terrible, sound quality was awful, and in one, some guy stood up in the middle. Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather pay a few bucks, and enjoy the 2 hours of high quality entertainment than spend time (energy, electricity, bandwidth, etc., etc.) hunting for a decent pirated copy. I say "a few bucks" because Redbox is about $1, and Netflix averages about $1 w/out streaming. With streaming, Netflix is an even better deal.

Those movies are usually out months before you can get it on DVD. I've even got leaked movies at high quality months before it even comes out in theaters. Obviously it's not going to happen every time. Once DVDs are released (sometimes sooner) you can get a movie at the same quality. A lot of people download the crappier version because it is smaller so it's quicker to download than the higher quality movies.

I have BluRay movies you couldn't tell if it was legal or not. The only thing I haven't really downloaded is 3D movies so I can't say if that would be the same. And yes I have a brand new 3D BluRay player and a 6 month old Samsung LED TV with the proper cables.

[lokna]

i stream movies and tv-shows. Why tv-show because were i live people rather watch kim kardashians huge ass or some lame as bimbo pumping out a baby then actual good series also cooking shows are there by a ton, people can't seem to find a cookbook anymore these day's.

and movies wel i watch movies online cus in the theather its close to 10 euro's now and 13 for a 3D sorry but for me that goes a bit overboard for all the movies i watch. I still go watch the movies i'm really interested in in the cinema's ofc just not all.

and music i just buy on I-Tunes unless i can't find it on there then i download it.

[Collegeguy]

You can skip all of that. Most video players have some sort of "Skip to home/main menu" button. But thats still pretty funny.

How is that picture even remotely funny? People pirate because of commercials? Seriously. Oh man, the junk people come up with.

[alturic]

Those movies are usually out months before you can get it on DVD. I've even got leaked movies at high quality months before it even comes out in theaters. Obviously it's not going to happen every time. Once DVDs are released (sometimes sooner) you can get a movie at the same quality. A lot of people download the crappier version because it is smaller so it's quicker to download than the higher quality movies.

I have BluRay movies you couldn't tell if it was legal or not. The only thing I haven't really downloaded is 3D movies so I can't say if that would be the same. And yes I have a brand new 3D BluRay player and a 6 month old Samsung LED TV with the proper cables.

So true, so many people remember the old days where you would get bootleg VHS tapes of cams, hell even now the cams/TS's are still crap. I only use DvDSCR and above for anything I watch, unless of course the screenshots show a decent quality TS.

[obdigore]

How is that picture even remotely funny? People pirate because of commercials? Seriously. Oh man, the junk people come up with.

I feel the same way about all the warnings and whatnot, so I find it funny. I don't pirate but I assume they have to have the warnings or else people would claim they didn't know it was illegal to do it.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

How is that picture even remotely funny? People pirate because of commercials? Seriously. Oh man, the junk people come up with.

Just the captions are funny. Its funny because of partially what you said. A lot of people work very hard on these movies, and according to that picture, its outrageous to sit through a few minutes of WARNINGS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD so that people can't pretend they didn't know what the are doing is wrong.

[wordup]

Guess it's evil and wrong to listen to music on youtube and spotify then, since I am surely taking away potential music sales!

[Deleted]

I don't own a ship so I can't pirate... but I think it's a serious problem for the trade, especially in the southeastern pacific and along the coast of Africa.

(Oh and yes, I refuse to use artificial words created by the industry. )

[semaphore]

How is that picture even remotely funny? People pirate because of commercials? Seriously. Oh man, the junk people come up with.

It's hilarious because the only way anyone will see those warning is if they aren't a pirate to begin with.