The tricky issue of downloading

[Shmoooooo]

Can any of you whiners tell me if there has been ONE case of any individual in the U.S. or a Western European country being convicted or EVEN charged with any criminal offense for downloading a free movie or song???

I have recently started downloading free movies, music and TV shows and it has been great. It's easy, fast and has greatly enhanced my home leisure time. I can barely turn on my computer without help, but got everything I needed at

http://www.themoviedownloads.biz

Within minutes I was downloading stuff I have been wanting to see for a long time. I personally don't see anything wrong with this. I wouldn't steal my neighbors food or clothes, but watching some bits and bytes over the internet, come on! By the way, I still go to the cinema and still buy CDs and therefore give my fair share to the fat cats who rip off artists for a living!

From your post you are one of two things

1) A thief who steals his entertainment on a regular basis

2) A troll who says things to provoke a reaction from others and starts flame wars

Either way your post is of little value to this community

[Stubblecat]

Option #3: Spammer.

[Shmoooooo]

Option #3: Spammer.

agreed ... still of no value

[Stubby]

How about Ebay and other methods of reselling a DVD?

A lot of people are saying they can't buy something that's out of print, so they have no choice but to download it. Why don't you Ebay it, you will find just about anything there. But those methods don't make the studios any money either. It just goes to a random seller.

Used and previously viewed DVD's are the same when you get them from stores too right? At least a third of my collection was bought this way. You get your DVD for a third of the price, and the store gets the entire profit and doesn't have to share anything with the studios. This is common practice for DVD's, CD's, and video games nowadays. Steve touched on this for the games.

I'd just like to add one thing before i quit this asinine thread (not your fault Stubby). /quote]

Get your Stubs straight. I'm Stubby, he's Stubblecat. I don't think we''re related
And for the record, I've never downloaded any media to date
However in my younger days, I would borrow my friend's albums to make a copy on my reel-to-reel tape recorder

[Steve T Power]

How about Ebay and other methods of reselling a DVD?

A lot of people are saying they can't buy something that's out of print, so they have no choice but to download it. Why don't you Ebay it, you will find just about anything there. But those methods don't make the studios any money either. It just goes to a random seller.

Used and previously viewed DVD's are the same when you get them from stores too right? At least a third of my collection was bought this way. You get your DVD for a third of the price, and the store gets the entire profit and doesn't have to share anything with the studios. This is common practice for DVD's, CD's, and video games nowadays. Steve touched on this for the games.

I'd just like to add one thing before i quit this asinine thread (not your fault Stubby). /quote]

Get your Stubs straight. I'm Stubby, he's Stubblecat. I don't think we''re related
And for the record, I've never downloaded any media to date
However in my younger days, I would borrow my friend's albums to make a copy on my reel-to-reel tape recorder

Sorry, i was calling him 'Stubby' for short - maybe i'll call him stubbycat for short next time...

[HGervais]

Within minutes I was downloading stuff I have been wanting to see for a long time. I personally don't see anything wrong with this. I wouldn't steal my neighbors food or clothes, but watching some bits and bytes over the internet, come on! By the way, I still go to the cinema and still buy CDs and therefore give my fair share to the fat cats who rip off artists for a living!

Self-justification much?

[Stubblecat]

Sorry, i was calling him 'Stubby' for short - maybe i'll call him stubbycat for short next time...

I would accept either 'Stubbs' or 'Cat' for short, if you like.

[MicroBear]

Well Mr. Stubblecat, thanks for firing off what has to have been one of the most interesting discussions I've seen on here in a long time. Thanks, also, to the rest of you for posting such intelligent, thought provoking replies. It all certainly provides a lot of food for thought (and a different angle on the whole "buying used" thing that I'd never even considered before).

That said, my take (and late to the party, as usual): if I'm going to be entertained, I'm going to pay money for it. I do, however, download. Infrequently, but I still do it. Despite my (admittedly feeble) justifications and the blank media levy we pay here in Canada (which could technically be seen as a form of "payment") I do know it's frightfully naughty, if not strictly on the up-and-up from a legal standpoint.

I do feel that the purveyors of the one or two items I regularly purloin deserve some form of recompense, so I make sure I do it in other ways. This includes buying the DVDs when the shows become officially available, or buying scads and scads of their other works whether they be music or movies. The entertainment industry has made -- and will continue to make -- a lot of wonga off me, so I like to think that it all works out in the end for everybody.

And that, folks, is how I'm able to sleep at night with something approximating a clean conscience.