Illegal Downloads aka the Hong Kong of the Internet

I download mostly everything.

Applications/Software - I've only ever bought a couple software titles. Every other time I download it becuase it's usually way out of my price range. Adobe Illustrator CS2? Yeah right, I'm still in highschool.

Movies - Same deal. Seeing as an anime dvd (which only contains about 4 sessions) is priced at about $30, it would cost me about 200$ for a season of anime... no thanks.

Music - I download all my music. First of all, it is perfectly legal (I live in Canada), and it's conveniant. A lot of the music I listen to is foreign (Japanese), and obtaining the legitimate redbook-CDs is difficult. When I can, I buy an album that I really like, becase I think that the artist has deserved my money.

While I understand that downloading illegaly is "wrong" and illegal, I justify it thusly: I am aware of what is available to me, and I have limited funds. If I want to use a program/listen to music/watch a movie, and am perfectly able to, I'm not going to let the issue of legality get in the way. "I want to listen to "X" artist, and can do so in about 10 minutes, as soon as I download the album. Great... too bad It's "wrong"." As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to listen to the damn music.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by soniclover

The problem I see with that kind of thinking is that it's actually hurting the artist. When we download something music from a lesser known and artist then it's hurting them a lot more than an artist like Usher.

My main problem with downloading music is that I think "Is the artist I love going to be able to make a new album if I'm not funding their career". When I think if that, it makes me not want to download music....but I still do anyway. Yep...soniclover the hypocrite.

It works differently in Canada. Downloading music is free and legal. However, when you buy blank CD-Rs, you are charged a levy, which goes to music artists nationwide. They (the artists) seem to be happy with it, and so am I.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by MagicumMusica

Um...

My whole debate on this is....

You can now get High Speed Interblah blah blah all the rest of this post

Incase you hadn't noticed, speedy networks, large harddrives, and CD/DVD burners can be used for a lot more than illegaly spreading music. Just becuase you don't use them for anything else doesn't mean that others don't. Let's say I'm a game developer, and I just created a bunch of raw .wav files for my upcoming game, and I need to send them to another department across the country. I could either send them across the internet, or mail them on a DVD. Both of these options are high-speed/high capacity methods, but are perfectly legal. I'm not pirating or illegaly destributing anything, I'm simply transporting my own personal material. (MagicumMusica, you may also want to double-check your network speed measurements [g, m, etc])

Originally Posted by MagicumMusica

So who really is to blame overall? us for downloading the media....or the stores for making it more accetable bu supplying equipment that enables to store more and download more..Faster and to burn stuff for our own pleasure & Others??????

Oh. Does that mean if I careen down the road at 150km/h, I'm not doing anything wrong? I mean, the construction crew made the road so long and strait, so it must be their fault that I'm speeding. Right guys?

Originally Posted by Kaiten

On the note of ill-begoten software, Microsoft has released a new WGA program, it will check your Windows install for authenticity and will spam you if it's illegal. The workaround is to disiable automatic updating and do a manual update. Just uncheck any WGA tools listed in the High Priority Updates (I even told Windows Update to not list it), and you'll be home free, for now. Like I've said before if most of the programs I use required Windows, I'd be using something else right now. Of course when has nagging ever got people to stop using Windows without a vaild key?

An interesting tidbit about windows updates: If you're running an pirated copy of XP, you can still get automatic updates without running automatic update. Check out this and this.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by MagicumMusica

Im sorry, clearly downloading at high speeds is risking peoples lifes...i was nto aware of this, thankyou for this piece of useless info

You missed the point entirely. Go back and read my post more thoroughly.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?