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AIBU?

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Original poster

To download instead of buying?

79 replies

muggglewump · 05/12/2008 18:58

OK so I'm not really looking for an answer, I just thought it would get more replies in here than in chat.
I'm genuinely interested in why people buy Games/DVD's/CD's/pay for Sky when they have them all online for free?

Is it a moral thing or do you like to have whatever it is boxed and new?

OP posts:
KatyMac · 05/12/2008 21:54

Say you created something fab, a picture, a book, a piece of music & instead of selling it for £100,000,000 some one came along & stole it - how would you feel?

How about if you made it & you could sell it 10,000,000 times for £10 each - but half of those people stole it - how would you feel

Now most of the time I give stuff I do away, but occasionally I sell it - but I would hate it if someone took something I had created

expatinscotland · 05/12/2008 21:55

no.

i don't want to get caught out and lose my nationality and get in trouble with the law.

magnolia74 · 05/12/2008 21:57

We download Lost when Virgin didn't have Sky one. Also download a few songs for dd's mp3 player. Use a safe site as far as viruses are concerned and my concience isn't really suffering.

I have heard about the Ds chip that you can download games onto but the kids want the box and instructions

onager · 05/12/2008 22:05

Kaymac, suppose everyone who had £10 downloaded and paid for it and THEN everyone else took it for nothing?

KatyMac · 05/12/2008 22:08

Why should I give it away for free - Tescos don't say 'Aw don't worry you don't have £1.75 for a sandwich, we'll give it to you' so why should artists?

If you can't afford it you shouldn't have it

onager · 05/12/2008 22:13

but when you take a sandwich from tesco that's one less they have

KatyMac · 05/12/2008 22:17

and?
It's not real if you can't touch it?

It doesn't matter if it's an idea?

It's not stealing because you can't Pick it up?

Sorry but that is a really sad idea - there is no way I will teach my DD that intellectual property is any less real than physical property, and therefore fair game to steal - I think that is just sad

Copyright & patents are massively important to both the people who take them out, the people who produce them under license & the end user

onager · 05/12/2008 22:27

Legally they don't call it stealing (because it doesn't deprive the owner of the use of it), but copyright violation.

The moral side is trickier. If you download something you were not going to buy in the first place you have not harmed anyone. If you stop buying CDs/DVDs because you are downloading then you are losing them the money you would have spent.

They try to claim you have cost them the retail cost of what you downloaded, but that's daft since you wouldn't have bought that many anyway.

KatyMac · 05/12/2008 22:29

It may not be called stealing but it is

Like cheating/plagiarism - using something that doesn't belong to you

retiredgoth2 · 05/12/2008 22:44

.....foot in both these camps.

I think it is reasonable to take 'tasters', and use the wonders of the interweb to explore and look for cultural experiences that I would be unwilling to part with cash for 'on spec'.

However I have discovered some things (music mainly) that I have enjoyed greatly, and felt that I owed the creators.

So I have bought stuff I had already downloaded.

This is a clumsy reward system, as there will be a whole lot of unworthy folks taking a cut apart from the artist (I am sure time and the interweb revolution will offer a solution) but it what is available currently...

...I also have quite a few LPs loaded on my computer that have been brought by friends, and I have not paid for them. I imagine others have done the same (in the olden days one would have taken a cassette tape of a chum's hot waxing. I don't see that the morality is different)

serenity · 05/12/2008 22:46

I won't download anything that I can buy, so no new music, no films, no games. However, I do download US TV, as I'm just too impatient to wait for it to come over. I can't see how that is stealing as there's no actual way of paying for it - even if I was in the US I wouldn't be paying for it! I do feel a bit guilty though, so when it is shown over here I watch it again (I know they can't really tell viewing figures, or who watches adverts, but it makes me feel better)

expatinscotland · 05/12/2008 22:48

i can't be arsed to download shit for free, tbh.

it's just a faff and not worth the hassle.

i buy stuff from iTune or play or game or amazon, whatever.

is it worth a few quid to get in all sorts of trouble?

to me, it isn't.

harpomarx · 05/12/2008 22:50

I used to download music for free. I now buy it, it's much quicker and I seem to have acquired a conscience in the last few years... maybe related to the fact that I was the grateful recipient of book royalties for a period and hate seeing any of my work reproduced without being paid for it.

KittyFloss · 05/12/2008 22:52

I haven't read all of the thread but I do download films for free, my justification for this is that I would otherwise never go to see them at the cinema or buy the dvd so they would not get any income from me anyway. I do sometimes download music and dp downloads games for his psp, don't really have any justification, just don't give a shit really.

BexieID · 05/12/2008 23:03

I like having retail packaging. There are some tv shows that are only available to buy in the US so have downloaded them in the past so I can see the rest of the series! (The Pretender).

It's people that download and copy for a profit that are the worst offenders!

I would also hate to think that if one day my Thomas becomes an actor/singer/programmer and people were ripping/downloading his hard work, I would be annoyed, iykwim!

KittyFloss · 05/12/2008 23:08

Yes because Thomas would be working so very hard he would utterly deserve millions of pounds wouldn't he

Original poster
muggglewump · 06/12/2008 02:07

Quite KittyFloss
The last film I got (haven't watched it yet) starred a huge Hollywood Actress. I'm fairly sure she will not miss the money that I saved by downloading instead of going to the Cinema/buying the DVD, which I wouldn't have done anyway!

OP posts:
nappyaddict · 06/12/2008 02:13

I used to but haven't for ages cos can't work out how to do it fast. mugglewump what site do you use?

BexieID · 06/12/2008 06:15

Um, there are some actors out there that don't actually make millions! Some do actually work very hard and go months between jobs. I agree that some are seriously overpaid though.

If I really like something that someone has downloaded I will buy it (usually cheap in the sales). It's when you goto these big markets and people are selling copies and they are stood chatting to the police! (the Barras market in Glasgow!).

LoremIpsum · 06/12/2008 06:50

If everyone moved to free downloads, who would keep producing new stuff?

Who will provide the budget to make a film, hire a studio or print a book if the finished work is taken rather than paid for?

Who will spend the time writing the songs, writing the books, programming the games or storyboarding the movie if they're expected to live on nothing because everyone's downloading it for free?

A very small percentage of people make huge sums of money out of entertainment, the majority of those working in the industry earn somewhere between next to nothing and a decent wage.

I don't expect someone to work in a shop or on the desk at the doctor's surgery without being paid. In fact, most of us accept work is done in return for money. Why should those in creative roles be expected to sign up to a different contract because you don't want to pay?

serenity · 06/12/2008 11:42

Exactly Lorem - this arguement that we deserve to download stuff for free because some people earn obscene amounts is very childish. If you're going to download rather than buy, at least admit it's because you're after something for nothing rather than pretend it's got some higher moralistic reason.

If you really don't want to line the coffers of the already rich - wait a bit, buy secondhand shrugs it's better quality anyway.

MadMarg · 06/12/2008 14:28

So because a film has one big priced actress that makes it ok? What about all the other actors on there, the film crew, etc? They don't deserve to get paid?

And honestly, how many artists actually make millions from their work? Percentage wise not many at all.

So why don't you be honest with yourself - you're not downloading it for free because you think some overpaid people don't deserve their money - you are downloading it becaues you are a cheapskate who can't be arsed paying for something. Just because you wouldn't have paid for it anyway, doesn't mean you have the right to have it for free. If you don't want it enough to pay for it, do without.

lotuseener · 06/12/2008 22:48

Expat- you can get your nationality revoked if you're caught illegally downlaoding?

What would happen if you did something really bad? Execution?

Tigurr · 07/12/2008 06:32

We "acquire" UK-produced shows (which aren't available on DVD and are only on the torrent-site for 6 weeks) because we are overseas and the TV is shite and although they do eventually get UK programmes, it's normally WAY after the event.

It's not exactly "free" as we are on a broadband package that costs about the equivalent of £40 per month and we get 25GB of usage (up & downloads, in total).

Back in 1998 (when we were on dial-up... and dial-up where you had to reconnect every 2 hours!) I used to download songs. I think I carried on until the Napster thing happened - mainly it was acquiring copies of songs I already had on cassette but I can't guarantee that I was whiter-than-white... well, I did manage to download 9000 items!

It's never totally knackered our PC although earlier this year we bought a "spare" 20gb pc-base-unit which is now our "torrentbox" as we were starting to notice some glitches occasionally

SniffyHock · 07/12/2008 07:34

Just on a light note - at my sister's once my family were debating the ethics of buying pirate DVD's (my Mum always get dodgy copies of things and we were trying to tell her why she shouldn't).

My niece had been at the table during the discussion but left the table in tears - my sister went to find out what was wrong.

"But I love Hook - why is it naughty to watch it???" LOL @ no 'pirate' DVD's

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