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Do you pirate?

(marc)

(marc)

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 15, 2010
724
2
the woods
The question is simple: Do you pirate? This includes music, software (apps), etc. What are your reasons for pirating / not pirating?



I'll start: I admit that I pirate a lot of music. When I listen to random music on YouTube and I like a song, I usually pirate the album and listen to it. But if I like it, I buy the CD (really), and if not, I delete it from iTunes. The reasoning behind this is simple - I'm not willing to spend money on something I don't like (and it takes to time to figure out if you really like an album), and if I had bought every album I listened to, I would have been broke a long time ago, having spent my money on bad music and now being unable to support good musicians.
 
I used to pirate pretty much everything. But since I've decided to clean up my act. Now I buy my music from iTunes or Amazon, my games off Steam and software wherever I can get it for cheapos.
 
roadbloc said:
I used to pirate pretty much everything. But since I've decided to clean up my act. Now I buy my music from iTunes or Amazon, my games off Steam and software wherever I can get it for cheapos.
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I was sorta like this, but instead of iTunes/amazon, I get my music on CD's from amazon and cheap blu-rays also. I switched for one to be legit and because I now have the highest quality format possible now, but also the disks act as a backup. I've had hard drives fail or even just moving files and such, I've missed some songs/movies that may have been deleted from itunes accidentally but yet could not re-download due to their policy even after contacting support and pleading with them a bit. So now I've gone from downloads to disk format. Keeps a backup that way, has the best quality, its cheaper too for movies! For example I purchased the die hard trilogy for like 35$ blu-ray on amazon, and it would cost $40.00 through itunes and that's only SD. Plus I just rip them myself to HD compatible for apple tv. Legal is the way to go! I get much more satisfaction knowing I legally own my stuff, on disk. I didn't really necessarily feel the same way via download, probably cause it wasn't a physical/tangible product that I could hold in my hand. Something to be said for that.

Also netflix, and gamefly are great ;)
 
Pirate, if I find myself using it, then I purchase it. Otherwise it gets deleted.
 
RandomNinjaAtk said:
I was sorta like this, but instead of iTunes/amazon, I get my music on CD's from amazon and cheap blu-rays also. I switched for one to be legit and because I now have the highest quality format possible now, but also the disks act as a backup. I've had hard drives fail or even just moving files and such, I've missed some songs/movies that may have been deleted from itunes accidentally but yet could not re-download due to their policy even after contacting support and pleading with them a bit. So now I've gone from downloads to disk format. Keeps a backup that way, has the best quality, its cheaper too for movies!

...
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Same thing here - I always buy the actual disc from Amazon. (The used ones oftentimes cost less than $5). I don't know why, but it just feels better to have a physical product, the album art, etc. Also, iTunes' download quality is ridiculous.
 
I buy a lot of music, but I download loads too...If I buy a album or tune off iTunes I delete it and download the flac versions...

I buy games generally on Steam or mail-order (PS3) I pirate a few on Bootcamp PC (I was unemployed for 9 months)

I pirate most of the big expensive apps as I can't afford them (and generally are responsible for buying them at work over the last 20 years - so they get their money's worth (adobe I'm looking at you).

But I buy lots of cheap mac apps.

I don't use pirate software on the iPhone as the apps are so cheap...
 
I used pirate pretty much everything.

Apps, Games, ebooks, music, movies, tv shows.

The things I really like I purchase. I used to run a jailbroken iphone and load it with cracked ipas but I "went" legit when the iphone 4 came out.

Now it is pretty much just really expensive apps (photoshop) and movies / tv shows.

I hate movie theaters and don't have a cable subscription.

Music I just use pandora and purchase a few songs I really like on itunes.

I do still pirate some ebooks for my nook but I would not have purchased those in the first place (library) so its not really stealing :D
 
Yes, I do. I used to pirate a lot music but not that much anymore, mainly due Spotify. I still download a lot TV shows as we are ages behind Americans and I don't want to wait for them to show up. Sometimes I download software as well if it's not available as a trial.
 
I buy music on itunes, and download US tv shows thru bittorrent. Being in Europe it's by far the simplest way to get them asap. I would prefer being able to get them with a subscription service in HD 5.1 though.
 
No,
My view on it is, that taking something that isn't mine is stealing, so I pay for what I use, be it music, software or tv/movies.
 
I try not too.

But one thing that really winds me up is the music industry and recording artists moaning about how piracy has destroyed their living.

Hello? This is the real world, adapt or die. That is motto of capitalism. Either work out how to make money from distributing your music for free (ala Spotify in Europe) or go out of business.

Software developers have long lived with open source software were they have to make money from other avenues rather than directly selling their software so why should musicians or TV show producers be exempt from this new era of commerce.

Don't moan about it. Times change. Now you need to find another way to make money out of what you do. There are already quite a few musicians who are starting to understand this and they are the ones who ultimately will make the most money. Not the ones who are too cowardly to take a jump in the dark and embrace a new business model. After all being in business is all about taking risks.
 
Angelo95210 said:
I buy music on itunes, and download US tv shows.
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This is more or less what I do too. Problem here in Europe is that we have to wait for ages for shows to get to our TVs and then for no reason or another (at least here in NL) they just vanish from our screens and you never know when they're coming back. Getting them off the interwebs is just easier.
 
I never pirate anything. I don't like it. If it means I miss out on cool games or music, then that's too bad.
 
I torrent Top Gear and Dr. Who because it takes months for the episodes to air in the US, and even then it's edited down so they can fit in more commercials. I'll also "borrow" music to see if I want to buy it. If I like it I'll buy it, if not then it gets deleted. Same for movies, if I like it then I'll get the DVD.

I used to download lots of TV shows, to save space on the tivo, but I realized I never watched any of it so I stopped.
 
No, don't have the costume or the ability to speak pirate. And every time I try to walk the plank I trip and knock everyone else in. :(
 
maflynn said:
No,
My view on it is, that taking something that isn't mine is stealing, so I pay for what I use, be it music, software or tv/movies.
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Yeah, that's my feeling on it. Back in the glory days of Napster and other PtP software, I did my share of grabbing some music. I grabbed a lot it because I was too lazy to rip existing CDs or to try new bands. Before the days of internet/satellite radio, it was difficult to get introduced to new music if you didn't have a radio station around that played what you liked.

Now? Not at all. I don't have any kind of torrent or PtP software on any of my computers. It's easy to listen to all kinds of music through stuff like Pandora and Last.FM. Movies are easy to get and fairly cheap thanks to services like Hulu and Netflix. I think the people who make the music and movies should get paid. Also, if I were to get caught pirating stuff, I could lose a couple of my professional certifications and possibly my job. So, no pirating anything. It isn't worth it to me.
 
I have, very occasionally, downloaded cracked software or pirated music or movies through torrents and Usenet. However, I pretty much always end up buying whatever it was I "borrowed" within short order, or otherwise deleted it soon afterward.
 
I try to stay legit when I can. I use itunes, buy CDs etc. If it is something I really want, I pay for it. Apart from the stealing someone else's effort thing, I sort of believe that if creative people cannot make a living out of their ideas they will stop. Fewer bands, artists, etc and less variety. Short term gain for long term loss.
 
maflynn said:
No,
My view on it is, that taking something that isn't mine is stealing, so I pay for what I use, be it music, software or tv/movies.
Click to expand...

I agree that there are a lot of similarities between pirating and stealing, but they're not the same thing to me. If you steal something, even if it's something small like a candy bar, whoever owned it doesn't have it anymore. When pirating music / software, all you do is copy. While it's certainly better to pay for it, even if you pirate it (because you couldn't pay for it, anyway), the owner still has the music / software.


R94N said:
I never pirate anything. I don't like it. If it means I miss out on cool games or music, then that's too bad.
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I see your points, but I don't feel the same way. What good does it do to an artist if you don't listen to his music as opposed to pirating it? Actually, I think that's the worst situation for the artist, because if you did pirate it and liked it, you'd tell your friends and they'd spread the word and maybe buy it.
 
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