I sometimes listen to pirated music. I (almost daily) watch television shows that I have illegally downloaded. I rarely watch any films and I usually buy them.
Why?
The content JUST ISN’T AVAILABLE.
If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, or, in some cases, even in Australia, you are most likely fine. But, if you don’t, then there’s ABSOLUTELY no way of getting the content. Well, not instantly, at least.
I’d have to wait a YEAR until the latest episode of House gets here. I’d have to wait TWO THREE YEARS until the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy gets here. I’d have to wait at least 6 months until the latest episode of Top Gear would be here.
And when it gets here, it is spoiled by the narrowscreen (4:3) format and hardcoded subtitles and the annoying red-and-white “3″ logo in the top-right corner. It’s JUST NOT A PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE.
It’s the same thing with CDs and DVDs. When a CD finally reaches here (and I can’t buy it online since there ISN’T A STORE), it’s always some sort of local re-release with worse audio and ads inside the jewel case. Or sometimes there isn’t a jewel case at all and the disc is in a paper box.
With DVDs there are the ads and, again, the narrowscreen format. I wrote a blog post about DVDs some time ago.
The only legal way for me to obtain music is Spotify. And… oh wait, f**k, I have to be in the UK or some other countries to get the full experience. Oh, f**k. I do use Spotify with a UK proxy. It’s the same way I use the BBC iPlayer.
I don’t use P2P, well, only when it’s the last resort: For example, I downloaded an episode of Grey’s Anatomy via torrent yesterday. I generally don’t like torrenting and prefer HTTP(S) servers and direct downloads.
I would honestly love to buy content, and now, for some time, I can. How? I bought a £15 iTunes Store gift card when I visited the UK. I wish I had bought more than just one though…
