Poll: Where do you draw the line on illegal downloads?

[ghall]

I don't download anything illegally. I'm a content creator so am well aware of the issues of copyright and ownership... I pay for royalty-free images and I also pay for all the shareware apps on my Mac.

All this crap about music companies making all the money. Do any of you have any idea of how much it costs to produce, record and market an artist, many of which won't even see a return on their investment?

Don't even try and kid me that you're doing something noble. You're hurting the industry through your greed, and you're also responsible for corporations imposing copy-protection schemes and product activations that hurt the honest consumer. You give absolutely nothing in return... while retailers close their doors and recording studios go to the wall.

There's no justification for it at all... all my software is legit. It helps that I obviously get it through work, using the second licence install. But if I didn't need it for work, I wouldn't need it at all. If I was freelance, then it would be a justifiable business expense.

If you're going to argue from the position of not wanting to support corporations, then do the right thing and support the open-source community.

My thoughts exactly.

Though I do download older, hard to find, games. That's pretty much the extent of my "illegal downloading". I only download stuff that a company no longer profits from. If a company rereleases a game, I delete the pirated copy and go buy the new one.

 

[wongulous]

I draw the line at shareware and independent developers. I'll never warez anything made with tender love and care by one person who is not getting paid for their hours of work but instead asks for a small donation (shareware). Now, on the other hand, after a while some shareware programmers get greedy and nasty with their nagware and crazy price hikes and multi-tiered approaches and serial checks... and that's when I sort of just lose interest.

 

[Shadow]

Most of the apps on my Mac are pirated (read: all expect the free ones). Notable exceptions: Coda and TechTool Deluxe. Oh and iWork 08 (I will buy it for college next year).

As for music, its iTunes or GoMusic for me.

 

[Abstract]

Exactly. People say "you shouldn't download because you're not supporting the artist." That's crap. The artists get jack **** from CD sales. If you buy a CD for $14 bucks, 20 cents goes to the manufacture of that CD, maybe 80 cents to $1 to the artist, and the rest to the record label/RIAA. I refuse to spend money on **** just to pad the pockets of these rich greedy ****s who run the RIAA. **** them.

If you want to support an artist, go to a show. That's how artists earn almost all of their money.

Sadly enough, that's actually true, although I will argue that this is true for musicians/bands that are in the medium and high level of popularity, while it isn't true for small bands. Small artists get screwed by recording companies in a different way.

Anyway, go watch a concert.


I download software sometimes, but I buy software from small companies.....things that around $25, $40, or even $100. I didn't buy MS Office.

 

[barr08]

Sadly enough, that's actually true, although I will argue that this is true for musicians/bands that are in the medium and high level of popularity, while it isn't true for small bands. Small artists get screwed by recording companies in a different way.

Anyway, go watch a concert.

Exactly. You are supporting your favorite bands so much more by paying the money to them to buy tickets and merch. I don't use that as an excuse to pirate music (I just don't care), but it's deffinitely something to consider. Artists get virtually no money from CD sales.

 

[megfilmworks]

It's amazing how little the posters here know about the music business.
Artist's live off royalties, not "concerts and merch" Take a class or read a book before making comments that have no basis in fact. And don't steal from artists unless you want them to steal from your paycheck.

 

[Sesshi]

Personally I have no particular rules. To me, if a purchase actually adds value (e.g. music > CD for me to do whatever I want with it, software > includes support, etc) then I buy it. If it doesn't, then I don't buy it.

Music wise, although some of the tracks in my library are shared from my friends CD rips (and I do the same with them), the rest is from my CD collection. I just don't have the patience for badly tagged, poor quality downloads via Bittorrent or wherever. I use Napster to sample tracks in full, then order only CD's I actually want from Amazon.

Software wise, these days if you want to do stuff on the cheap there are plenty of open source alternatives so I would imagine there's very little need for most people to pirate software.

I use mainstream packages and I am fully licensed - right down to the very last copy of Office (I have a bulging cabinet full of Office OEM wallets, Mac Office tubes and paper licenses). I license shareware (such as - on the Mac - Graphicconverter, etc), and if I use a piece of freeware a lot (On the Mac side such as SMCfancontrol) then I'll tip a twenty or so by Paypal.

 

[nbs2]

My software is paid for.

My movies are paid for, except for our home movies.

My music is paid for, except for music that is not available for purchase on either new or used (band encouraged bootlegs, unreleased demos by friends). As with others, if it becomes available on the new market, it is then purchased.

 

[barr08]

It's amazing how little the posters here know about the music business.
Artist's live off royalties, not "concerts and merch" Take a class or read a book before making comments that have no basis in fact. And don't steal from artists unless you want them to steal from your paycheck.

Are you kidding me?

Dude, you're just wrong. And don't insult users on this forum, especially if you don't know what you're talking about.

You

 

[x86isslow]

What really bugs me is when companies don't have their stuff online in *any* form. Until this season, a lot of TV shows weren't on iTunes, but also, weren't streaming from their network websites, so I resorted to torrents to keep up (I didn't lug a TV with me off to college).

When there's a way to legally download/stream something, I use it- especially indie Mac software- I think I've spent over $300 on OmniGroup software over the last 4 years.

 

[mgargan1]

My thoughts are, if I could see myself buying the album in the store, i'll pay for it online. There's no way, I'd go to the store to buy a single song... hence, I don't buy it. It doesn't seem worth the $1 to have it play whenever itunes chooses that song (i keep my music on shuffle).

As far as apps, I've downloaded roxio toast, because i needed it in a jam (no pun intended). But, I can't see myself spending my money on a product that i already have... maybe if i had more money to go around.

 

[Mord]

My policy on piracy is derived logically from mills harm principle, none of my activities bring harm to anyone and that's extrapolated from a base level of lack of harm theorised from me not pirating anything and purchasing as I need or want.

Take that as you will.

 

[nbs2]

My policy on piracy is derived logically from mills harm principle, none of my activities bring harm to anyone and that's extrapolated from a base level of lack of harm theorised from me not pirating anything and purchasing as I need or want.

Take that as you will.

It's late in the day and I'm about to head home. But that was really well put. Better than anything I could have said.

 

[Abstract]

It's amazing how little the posters here know about the music business.
Artist's live off royalties, not "concerts and merch" Take a class or read a book before making comments that have no basis in fact. And don't steal from artists unless you want them to steal from your paycheck.

That's just so wrong.


Let me put it to you this way: The more people who listen to your music, the more fans you will have. The more fans you have, the more your concert tickets will cost (when you have them) due to demand. Cash. If nobody has heard your music, do you think they'd be willing to go to your concert? What would you rather have as a musician: 10,000 fans that all bought your album AND went to your concert; 15,000,000 people who have your album on their computer, and 800,000 fans are all scrambling to buy one of the 200,000 concert tickets available to one of your concerts? I'd rather have the latter, but I want to make money.


If you want current proof, look at the Arctic Monkeys (2006). Their first album was the fastest selling debut album in UK history. Why? Because they gave away free demo CDs and basically asked people to share the music with their friends. Nobody had to buy their first official album when it was released because it was made up of "old" songs that they already gave away, and yet every fan did. People liked what they heard, and people bought their album when it was finally released.

It just goes to show you that people are still more than willing to buy CDs. You just need to give them something they like. Letting them hear the CD first is like letting a customer try on a shirt. If they don't like it, they won't buy it, and I think that's what's happening now --- no more guessing which CD is good.


Or I could just do what you suggested and pick up a textbook. Of course, it's probably so "old world" that I'd be studying an out-of-date history book......which is what companies like Universal must be reading.

 

[miniConvert]

I'm not voting in the poll. I believe that piracy is wrong. I also believe that it's extremely easy for an opportunist to 'take' pirated wares sometimes, just as it's easy for an opportunist to pilfer a few pens out of the stationary cupboard.

Basically, I believe most people, the vast majority in fact, recognise piracy is wrong. However, I don't think it's the consumer of pirated goods that should be punished - I think that axe grinds on the creators and distributors out there. Why? Sometimes circumstances prevail that allow an individual to justify an illegal act to themselves. I don't think that argument exists for the creators and the distributors.

That's not to say serial consumers of pirated wares shouldn't be held to account - I think once an individual is into the hundreds of pirated songs/movies/applications then they are demonstrating a clear disregard for the law.

I omit, for the moment, television shows in my arguments. Or at least television shows that aren't available for download. South Park Studio's website, and you'll have to take my word for this, once published an answer from Matt and Trey to a viewer about downloading their shows from the Internet. The answer supported the notion, pointing to the fact that DVD's weren't available of South Park for all seasons in that market yet, and no legal online service was available. It's officially a grey area in my book, but one that will quickly become black and white as digital distribution continues to improve.

The message still remains. Piracy is illegal. It's wrong.

 

[bousozoku]

Interesting question.

I don't believe in downloading anything that isn't freely available to me. However, I ran into a situation. I have a certain music CD that is copy protected. It's probably not technically allowed to be called a CD since you need a Windows application to allow the proper playing of the music.

I feel that I was cheated since I can't put the music on my iPod and I wouldn't share the music but I believe that I should be able to use it freely. I might be willing to compromise my values in that situation, but I haven't.

There is plenty of free software and music available that no one should have any that doesn't belong to them.

 

[kick52]

I'm not really sure, but I never download any Apple OSes, because I like to stay faithful heh.

Anyway I don't have a DVD writer.

 

[megfilmworks]

If an artist wants to give his music away free, that is great. But stealing is wrong. How would you like someone taking money from your paycheck or if your boss wanted you to work free for a few years.
Please, don't tell me how stealing is good for the artist. Can you spell "naive"?
And for the poster who says I'm wrong. I speak from experience. Every dollar I've earned in my life is a result of songwriting royalties. That is my paycheck. And i know that virutally everyone who has downloaded illegally has some of my money in their pocket.

 

[KingYaba]

I have purchased too many CDs in the past only to receive a sub-par product in return. Too many instances where one or two tracks are the only enjoyable songs from the entire CD and I feel its not worth $15.00. Therefore I only support the artists I cherish. The others do not deserve a penny.

Download any and all music and if it's good I'll buy the CD and import high quality mp3s.

 

[KingYaba]

.

 

[megfilmworks]

I have purchased too many CDs in the past only to receive a sub-par product in return. Too many instances where one or two tracks are the only enjoyable songs from the entire CD and I feel its not worth $15.00. Therefore I only support the artists I cherish. The others do not deserve a penny.

Download any and all music and if it's good I'll buy the CD and import high quality mp3s.

You're right, That's why iTunes is so great. Listen to a clip, buy one track on an album, moving towards DRM free music. Just don't steal, you never know what will come back to haunt you. Remember that old term Karma. It may not be instant but..... It's hard enough to make a living in music, don't contribute to the rip off. The record labels are already ripping them off enough.

 

[Maui]

It's amazing how little the posters here know about the music business.

I find it more amazing that you would lump "the posters here" all together, on any issue.

 

[megfilmworks]

I find it more amazing that you would lump "the posters here" all together, on any issue.

Just the posters who justifying stealing from the musicians. Mangers, agents, record companies all steal enough, and now the fans? What a sad world when your fans steal more from you than agents and record labels

 

[VoodooDaddy]

My line is simple. I will not keep anything pirated permanently.

We've done the burn NetFlix/Blockbuster DVDs scheme in the past, my rules were simple. After we both (my wife and I) watch the movie, we destroy the disk. If we liked it enough to want it in our collection we'll buy it.

This doesnt any sense to me. You got movies through Netflix/Blockbuster, made a copy, sent the original back, watched the copy and then trashed the disc??? Why not just watch the original and send it back?? Im confused.

 

[obeygiant]

which one of these signs do you agree with?