Piracy Vs. Legitimate Purchase

[HiderInTheHouse]

Obviously, I download shit all the time. With barely any money in my pocket, I can't afford to waste it on DVDs or Blu-ray discs. File sharing is great! I think I've amassed a collection of at least 150 movies on burned DVDs. Everything from Fulci classics like City of the Living Dead to awesome kung-fu flicks like Iron Monkey. Plus, if I ever feel like watching something new, I can download it in just a couple hours or less. Granted torrents are dieing a little bit lately so it's been kind of hard to find those really obscure titles, but all in all torrents or MIRC or whatever you use to get your movies is pretty fucking cool.

[CT]

I used to some but don't really anymore, mainly because I'm buying so many these days. I just really like owning the actual high quality releases with all extras and original artwork/boxes and stuff for some reason. As far as whether or not it's wrong I'm not really sure how I feel and I can see both sides of the argument. I certainly can't blame people for something I did in the past. (and as far as music go it may not be the past lol) It'll be pretty hard to get the genie back in the bottle though, people aren't too likely to quietly give up free shit. I think things like Netflix, iTunes, and collector edition dvds are smart ways they're getting people to spend some money again for a good product/service.

[HiderInTheHouse]

It's always cool to have the actual product, but I don't have the money for that stuff right now, so I just really appreciate file sharing being an option for me. I don't think it's that big of a deal, there's just a lot of greedy people out there. I mean if my friend had a copy of a movie I wanted to see and he was nice enough to share and let me borrow it so I could watch it.... well I guess all these anti-piracy corporations should come after him and I for that too. It's the same idea, just someone is letting me borrow it over the internet instead.

[The Walking Dude]

I do on occasion,but not often.It's usually on things that are unavailable in Australia and I'm curious to see,but not willing to import,unless it's cheap.If it's out in Oz,I most likely just add it to Quickflix and check it out.I don't usually download movies that are still in cinemas,mainly cause of the quality. The only exception to this that I've ever done was Scream 4, but only after I'd been to see it at the cinema.I just couldn't wait for home formats to watch it again.But when it released I'll be all over that like Oprah on a baked ham.

You raise a great point too Hider, about borrowing and lending,it's not really that different,and there is absolutely no policing that.I have a few friends that I constantly share films with and vice versa.

For me though,the collector in me always wins out.I like to have a physical copy of almost everything.

[HiderInTheHouse]

Yea I hate downloading the TS copies of films that are still out in theaters. I refuse to watch something in that shitty of quality. If it were possible for someone to get copies other than TS, well then it would be awesome. Unfortunately, it seems impossible.

I've read many pro-piracy arguments and its funny because most of them are written by people who have created some kind of software or game, etc. A cool quote I read somewhere by the creator of an online game went something like this "Piracy is not stealing. If you steal a car the original is lost. If you copy a game or movie to share, you have simply made it so that there are that many more copies out there in the world." The same guy went on to talk about how his game became that much more popular and has made all this money because he let people download his stuff for free and so a greater number of people knew about it than would have before.

I also like having physical copies, but being a broke ass college student right now just doesn't afford me that luxury.