Comments on: Convenience and Piracy

By: FinancialBondage

FinancialBondage — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:22:01 +0000

I remember years ago, having to pay $20+ for a CD of an artists music, and one or two songs were good. the rest stunk. Anyone ever do that? You could not return it. Basically, you bought a product that was bad. No one complained about that, speaking up for the consumer I mean. That is why I love the itunes store. I can buy just the songs I want and know I like. .99 cents. No more wasting money. I like knowing when I pay the .99 cents, someone is getting paid for their hard work. I don’t work for free, no one else should either. Piracy means you are stealing money from someones pocket.

By: Tyler Fulton

Tyler Fulton — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:13:15 +0000

Folks, I apologize if someone has already posted this information. Currently there is a way to fund paypal without giving any personal information out other than the basic name and address stuff. That is greendot moneypacks available at a number of retailers. I have not done a cost analysis so I cant give any more information than it is possible. Hope this helps.

By: RE Ramcharan

RE Ramcharan — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:27:23 +0000

Incidentally, has anyone noticed how many of the artists who complain about copyright infringement like to lecture people on inequality of wealth, social justice and so on? Obviously, when it comes to somebody taking their money, it’s suddenly a different story, but what puzzles me is the disconnect between what they say in their songs and how surprised and upset they get when their fans actually do what they say.

By: RE Ramcharan

RE Ramcharan — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:16:41 +0000

Slavery is still legal in Mauretania, as it is in most of the Muslim world. And one reason many countries are lax about enforcing international copyright conventions is that their local elites are making a ton of money from pirated copies of entertainment content being made by their citizens and smuggled into the developed world where they can be bought be people who don’t care about the legality of what they’re doing.

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 23 May 2010 21:56:37 +0000

I feel pretty strongly about this issue when it comes to textbooks – I absolutely hate carrying heavy paper textbooks around to study. It’s hard on my back, it pinches my shoulders, etc – even with a very good backpack. I prefer to use electronic books. The problem is, publishers of medical textbooks have made it very difficult if not impossible to buy e-books of their texts – you can pay for a temporary membership to use the book online (for the price of buying the actual book and having it forever) or you can download the book illegally. I would be more than happy to pay to have a permanent electronic copy of these textbooks – it’s not the money, it’s the pain in the ass of having to carry real books. Unfortunately I haven’t yet found a way to get this resource legitimately, and so I often end up getting it from torrent download sites. How foolish is it of the publishers to ignore this market?

By: Bill in NC

Bill in NC — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:40:26 +0000

The cheaper and easier you make it to get your content legitimately, the more will be willing to buy.

I buy a lot more TV shows via Amazon Unbox, downloaded to my Tivo, than I ever did on DVDs.
(I can buy a few shows instead of being forced to buy a whole season)

I rent a lot more DVDs via Redbox for $1 than I ever would from Blockbuster (the latter is more expensive with fewer locations)

By: Mike C

Mike C — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:38:58 +0000

#53, what do you mean “rip-everyone-off”? And who is Henry? I am not ripping anybody…

By: Amar

Amar — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:13:02 +0000

Hi,

The following website gives out free Microsoft software to students and Teacher. https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx There is no need to support piracy. It is the hard work of many people who create software. Please respect their hardwork.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 22 May 2010 14:55:59 +0000

#26 said it, this is not piracy or stealing it is copy right infringement and it is not illegal. You can not be arrested or put in jail. You can only get in trouble for uploading and even that is a civil offense.

That indie game pack cleared over $1 million recently and was a considered a great success.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:34:11 +0000

While I truly admire your trust and faith in the human race, I do not believe people pirate (or steal) because it is easier. They do it because they can. Your “Humble Indie Bundle” example prooves this.

People pirate music, games, etc. because most people (not all) will steal(or take things, if you like that better) if given the opportunity, especially if there is little to no likelyhood of being caught or of there being any kind of repercussion. I am also willing to bet that half of the people here who say they wouldn’t…do, or have, but have justified it in someway (it was just this one small thing…etc.)

Sorry…I usually wear rose colored glasses too….but not this time.

By: SLCCOM

SLCCOM — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:13:40 +0000

Does anyone besides me notice that “Mike C” and “Henry” seem to have the same rip-everyone-off philosophy?

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:30:04 +0000

Ugh… do you people not see what all the ‘scare tactics’ are all about? Big content is trying to lobby your American government into believing that due to ‘piracy’, they lose millions of dollars in revenue. This scare tactic is used because they have lost their ‘grip’ on their precious outdated distribution model, as we all know (in this day and age at least) the internet is far better at reaching more people. However, big content cannot control it, like the way they used to control the sales and distribution of CD’s for example. Remember that? Paying $25 for a CD that cost them less then $3 to make for only one or two songs? They just pilfered you out of money and loved it and there was nothing you could do. Artists for that matter had to go through them to create because back then, there was no other way. But see they can’t do that the way they used to and this bothers them because people now see that they are in fact outdated and no longer needed. Most artists can achieve promotions and music creation themselves. Being able to purchase all this equipment or rent the space very cheaply and thanks to the big FREE distribution model (the internet), they can reach far more people then the record companies could with their ‘radio gigs’ or global concert tours. To big content, this has never been about the artists but about them, and saving their empires. They want to tug on your heart strings to make you think your actually hurting the artist’s bottom line.

Piracy is what Captain Jack Sparrow does. Copyright infringement is what is ACTUALLY going on and it is certainly not theft. If it was we are all guilty thanks to library’s and photocopy machines. Now, your OPINIONS or how you FEEL about copyright infringement is an entirely different argument. But the fact is, theft is the act if stealing something “physical” that has value, that would give the owner a sense of loss like his car being stolen, or his cell phone. Copyright infringement is the act of taking a COPY… a PERFECT DIGITAL COPY of a piece of work and distributing it usually without artist/author consent. It has no value, it is just a copy. Like me hitting the print button on this article 100 times and giving it out to 100 people. Its two TOTALLY different things. The scare tactics big content uses on people that don’t know any better is appalling, disgusting and should be (in my opinion) illegal. I can’t wait until they finally crash and burn so we can all get real music for a change.

By: Stella

Stella — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:51:21 +0000

Hmm–I tend to think that attributing piracy to laziness is a pretty generous assessment. I think many of them do it because they can. As for laziness–well, it often takes MORE time and effort to pirate something (seeking out a version that’s at least equal in quality to the for sale version, using IP blockers so your piracy can’t be traced, etc.) than it does to just pay for it.

By: Brent

Brent — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:07:46 +0000

For those who referenced how to compensate creators I will present some options that don’t require a copyright.
Patronage: Collect enough contributors or wealthy enough contributors and it will happen.
Business Cooperatives: For things that make money. Software, Documents, Designs. Once its made we can all enjoy this new stuff.

The world of copyright is inherently inefficient. If I designed an algorithm that was proven to be optimal and then patented this algorithm I’m left either charging a price that will net me the most income. But Everyone that cannot afford my algorithm will have to purchase a worse one duplicating effort. We can do better, you just have to think about it differently. I can’t steal an idea only share it. Lets do more sharing so we all can benefit.
For the record I’m a software engineer who’s talents are contracted to the government to create novel tools.

By: Mike C

Mike C — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:55:02 +0000

#44, Des: In many places in Europe (where, BTW, slavery and child prostitution is illegal; people do not children alive either) it is not illegal to copy music for private use (private use means that you are not making a profit from it).

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:15:08 +0000

The creation of CCLI was to address the issue of copying of sheet music in churches. Many, if not most, churches purchased some legitimate copies of sheet music and then utilized photocopying for the rest. It was a serious problem particularly with contemporary/new music. Churches don’t have the budgets to allow for purchasing 10 or 20 copies of entire books of music, and individual copies are very spendy. Now there is another choice. We purchase a blanket copyright agreement from CCLI. CCLI in turn pays the artists a fee for their music. I don’t know whether artists get paid based on the popularity of their music or how it is tracked. What I do know is that my church can legitimately and in good conscience use all music that is covered by CCLI. If it’s not covered, the chances are good that we won’t use it because we don’t want to pay for another license fee.

This is a great model for other industries.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:10:56 +0000

Since I don’t know where to find pirated stuff very easily, it’s actually more convenient to just pay for me…yep, I’m that not techy…

By: imelda

imelda — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:40:32 +0000

@ Des #44: In what countries are slavery and child prostitution considered okay?

Also, to play devil’s advocate to Johanna, #5: Not a fan of Robin Hood, are you?

By: DiscoApu

DiscoApu — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:20:48 +0000

Just add a 5 sec commercial in front of the song and give it away for free. Change a few words so you have product placement(already being done). Do small venue shows for a low cost and get part of the alcohol sales profit.

By: Des

Des — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:58:42 +0000

@ Mike C – Many countries also don’t consider slavery or child prostitution illegal, either. And many people in those countries don’t think there is anything wrong with those acts, just like some people here don’t think stealing content is wrong. Should I go ahead and do those things under the table, too, if I disagree with the laws?