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Seeing as how this is the best Forum ive ever been too and you all are actually intelligent people and arent afraid to state an opinion and are open minded...

What is your view on downloads/burning of any sort? Mp3, videos, games....etc?

Just as a rule lets try not to like flame anyone because im sure everyone knows people wont change what they do.

-I dont download music. Simply because music is boring. If i actually like a song i buy the album. If i do DOWNLOAD music its always game music and you cant usually get game music anywhere , and if you can i buy it. Dont burn music.... thats what IPOD is for.

-Videos i dont care about downloading or burning because i buy them.

-Games i download and/or i buy. Usually the ones i download are really old like Duke 3d..etc and sometimes new because .....many reasons.

Oh and by the way i dont share any of them...ever.

Next...

-I would and do download music. It makes me feel good to screw the R.I.A.A., if only just a little.

-I would and do download abandonware, but that's it. If the creators are still making money from it, I won't download it. It takes a large team and millions of dollars to make one.

-I will not download movies. They cost millions of dollars to make, and frequently people risk their lives making them. The least I can do is buy the product.

Tricksy, hobbit. Tricksy.

Music downloading I see no problem with. Mostly because, in my life, I've bought a few CD burners and plenty of blank CDs. 'What's this matter, Nitram?' you ask. Mostly that, on all those, there's a tax relating to a law passed a decade ago to legalize digital audio recording and duplication. Of course, no one mentions that, because it would upset the RIAA...

I disagree with movie downloading. Mostly because of two thoughts.

1) Movies in theatres. WTF, part of the experience is the theatre. And being out with your SO.

2) Movies on DVD. Why bother? DVD's have cool extras.

Games... Well, by my knowledge, all games downloaded tend to work poorly compared to a bought copy, are stripped down to be lighter to download, and generally won't do multiplayer. So I wouldn't bother, simply because it's alot of work with minimal gain.

Yep, mutiplayer the biggest reason i dont download games. If you know where to get them everything else works fine and it stripped down, but if you dont know where to get them there all stripped down and their crap.

But thats why i buy them...for MP. The best part is playing onle and killeing someone. Its kind of hard creating a server and running around a map with noone in it.

I both buy and download music, it's better to randomly download some band you've never heard of to see if you'll like them before buying an album, instead of just paying like £10 at least on a band you might not like, and go through the bollocks of taking it back to the shop.

With TV Shows, I'm fine with it, I mean, I missed SGA the seige part 2 because the TV was comandeered for football use. So what's the problem with downloading what I could've watched in the first place, but was unable due to other people watching something else? It's TV on demand, it's the future, I tells ya.

With movies, if I'm hearing mixed reviews, I may as well check it out beforehand. If it's good, the cinema will get my £5.50, and I'll probably buy the DVD further down the road. It's not something I do a lot, though, to be fair.

Games/programs - I've done it once or twice, and felt a bit bad for doing it, but again, it's good for quality testing before you get the full thing, without the annoyances you'd get from a demo.

It's funny how the adverts say "piracy funds terrorism/organised crime" when it really doesn't, going to the middleman would be the only link to terrorism, and the internet cuts out that middleman. Unless the terrorist is running a torrent site and the advertising he's getting paid for would count. But the same would apply for anything, in that case.

If a product is really good, people will buy it, irrespective if they can also download it, in my experience. I just think that the ability to download is a good means of "try before you buy".

Starting with music, no way in hell I'm going to fork out $18 for a CD so the RIAA can use the money to sue 12 year olds.

Movies are fair game, because $25 for a DVD is a ripoff and the DVD extras usually aren't very compelling.

TV shows are definitely download material, since the corporate hatfuckers have been known to charge $100 per season or more. I think people should make a point of pirating when companies charge such outrageous prices, so they can see what being gouged is like.

Games are only fair game if made by a big company. Anyone who downloads games from indie developers like Irrational and doesn't buy a copy if he likes the game is an asshole.

I also have no problem with downloading anything over 14 years old, because that's how long copyrights originally lasted and that's about how long they should last. Disney should not still be raking in the profits for that fucking mouse and Elvis Presley should be public domain.

EDIT: Playing pirated copies of a game online with a generated key is always wrong, because whichever legal owner has that same key is locked out. I've had to sit there with my thumb up my ass because some shitstain was using my key before, and it ain't fun.

Music, yes. I restrict downloads to stuff I can't buy on iTMS when I'm looking for one or two songs off of an album. I will go out and buy CDs if the majority of it is going on my iTunes playlists.

Movies, no. I'm the type of person who only purchases movies I will want to watch again. Most movies don't fall into that category and I maintain a Netflix account for those movies (not to mention a couple of programs to rip the DVD and convert the movie to MP4 or H.264 if the mood strikes me).

Games, rarely. I treat "current release" downloaded games as demos. I delete/destroy my copies of games I won't play, and purchase those I do get enjoyment out of. "Abandonware" or games no longer in commercial release are a tad more unrestricted as far as I am concerned.

Only stuff I really download is various anime related stuff that isn't available outside of Japan. Still illegal, but I do have a rather large legit collection, and do import a decent amount of stuff.

Only games I download tend to be fanmade ones.

Assassin X wrote:Yep, mutiplayer the biggest reason i dont download games. If you know where to get them everything else works fine and it stripped down, but if you dont know where to get them there all stripped down and their crap.

Amen to that - a few games occasionally are uploaded in ful to give the downloaders every facet available, but a low of abandonware providers go with the absolute working minimal and hold back a lot of the things that make a game interesting. Case in point, Classic Gaming Archive's copy of Descent II - I downloaded it after playing the original for a while and having played the demo when I was younger, and while the "game" was fully available, the uploader had done something to the game so that you couldn't see any of the cutscenes, not even the level-ending escape through the exit tunnel. Abandonia's copy of Descent also has a minor snafu in that the game crashes every time I try to poke around with the multiplayer options.

Others still upload copies of the game that simply won't work without the need for some fancy add-on despite the fact that the very same game ran years ago on the very same system. Classic Gaming Archive (I honestly hate their guts) did such a thing with Tactical Fighter Expariment, uploading a copy of the game that required DosBox to play because the transplanting of the installed game caused it to go bugfuck upon execution. Rather than upload the installation files, which would have made things far more easier, they instead force us to use this resource-munching add-on that runs hidiously slow despite the perfect conditions exhibited by the original game (which I had back on CD a while ago, but was lost when the CD got broken somehow).

As far as music goes, I personaly have no problem whatsoever with downloading and storing music. It's not as though I'm in turn selling them for a profit (which I am opposed to) and it's really the equivilant of taping a song off the radio, just in far better quality. You also have to take into account the availability of the material in question - you might be searching for a single song amongst hundreds of CDs and still not be able to find it, and even if you do find a disc that has it, it also may contain a bunch more that you don't want, yet are forced to purchase anyway.

Television, I'm not so sure about, but movies I'm definetily against - as was said before, half of the experience is being in the theater to watch it in the first place, and DVDs can sometimes have interesting extras - PLUS, for those of us who are scraping by with the basic minimals or don't have the funds on-hand to upgrade - take by rust bucket, for instance - it's an impossability in the first place.

EDIT: Going back to games, I'd also like to point out that in the area of emulation, a great number of the most popular games people play are either impossible to find in a working condition or in a condition in which things can be understod - many of the games that I emulate are for the old Nintendo and Super Nintendo systems, and are more often than not straight Japanese dumps or copies that somebody has taken their good time and resources to translate and make a patch fr. Final Fantasy II and III for the NES and the Romancing SaGa, Ys IV and V, Shin Megami Tensei I and II, Seiken Densetsu III for the SNES - you either can't find them in a working condition, or if you do, one in which you can understand the story and action without having to learn the language.

I'm all for downloading videos. I am one to download it then view it. If I like it I go out and buy it. If not, then I just delete it. Half my video collection is from movies/shows I only saw through downloading off the internet.

Music is something I love to have, but refuse to pay 15 bucks for a cd inwhich I may listen to one song. The download sites where you pay are also annoying since I don't see a buck being worth 3 minutes of audio.

Games is something I only download if its abandonware, shareware, freeware or open source. I refuse to download warez. Not only are the rips pathetic (I did it once for a game I desperately wanted. It was so bad I never bought the game until 3 years later when I saw it in a store and decided to retry it. Worth the money and much better) but they take money from guys that deserve a buck for the effort they put into it.

I find that downloading that stuff is usualy too fraught with malware and various other nasties to be worth it.

Definite no to movies and games - as you don't usualy get the full package, or in some cases a very high quality package at all. Music I will download occasionaly, but I reserve it for special cases: Game music and older songs that are very hard to find in shops. I have downloaded new music on occasion, but only if the song really "grabs" me (in which case I usualy end up buying the CD on the strength of it anyway).

I play only MMORPG's these days and they're a little hard to download and play. The last game i bought was Dawn of War and it was worth all £30 I paid.

I don't download movies because half the times you get shit quality, the wrong or it just takes forever, i can go to the cinema and watch the feckign movie before WinMX gets even half downloaded. I did download the Fellowship of the Ring and it was crap, people where standing up in front of the camera and when Arragorn decaped the Orc there was a round of applause from the kids in the audience. Downloading it lessened my enjoyment of the movie.

I do however download music but in fairness i'm using it as a try before you buy or to get just those few songs that where good but the album was shite. Most of my MP3 collection was ripped from my own CD collection and what wasn't amounts to at most a few hundred individual songs. Is it theft? Maybe but no more than the theft record companies have been doing to me for years before napster and it's successors came about.

i have no problems with downloading music. although as i don't care for most local musicians, (ie - performers in the states), the vast majority of music i buy is stuff that can only be purchased either through importing, which is ungodly expensive, or anime and game related soundtracks which is nigh impossible for most americans to get ahold of.

television shows - i have no problem with this if i'm wanting to catch a specific episode or two of a particular series. alternatively if the series isn't yet out on dvd and is no longer in syndication, then i have no problems with this either. then there's anime. the newer stuff is only possible via fansubs, so the only way for most americans to check it out is through downloading.

games - here's a bit of a gray area for me. emulating classic console games, i have no qualms with. as cartridges and discs for classic games can be a bitch to find, let alone finding a working console. then there's no guarantee that what you're getting still works. so i've typically got no problems downloading roms of older gaming systems, though the stuff that's still in stores i'll stay away from. computer games i won't bother touching unless they're either no longer sold in stores period or areavailable for free, such as grand theft auto 1 & 2.

movies - another gray area for me. if i've never seen the movie before, i might download to check it out. if it's still in theaters, then i won't bother. or if it's just a movie i'll only see once and never watch again.

I think of it as a "take a penny, leave a penny" thing. Yes, I download lots of stuff. But I also buy lots of stuff, stuff that I would have never bought at all if I hadn't gotten into filesharing. I spend hundreds of dollars a year on anime, for example, but I never would have gotten into anime in the first place without filesharing. So in my isolated case, are the anime companies better or worse off because of filesharing? Better, without a doubt.

Downloading Music:
I used to do it alot awhile back, but now I only download one or two songs, if that, a month. Depends if I hear something I like on the radio or on VH1/MTV/CMT. I dont feel bad for doing it, I bought enough cd's, and I continue to buy music CD's, one or two songs won't hurt the artist to badly.

Downloading Movies
I download porn movies. Period. Why waste the time and effort of finding a good quality version of the movie online, when I can get full enjoyment out of the theater experience, enjoy it with my gf, or friends. And when it hits DVD, I get the DVD ,more features, high quality, and I can watch it on any TV, not my 17" monitor.

Downloading Games
Depends...abandone ware, shareware, freeware? Sure, I'll download those, after all, I can't find abandonware anymore. I only downloaded one or two "release" games in my time, and both times I went out, bought the game after giving it a shot from the warez copy, then deleted the warez. I used them as a demo to see if I could like the game or not. Otherwise, I don't. The developers and programmers put alot of time and money into creating them, the least they deserve is getting thier money for it.

I don't bother downloading music, movies, or games.

Music I'll either buy, or very occasionally borrow and rip. Movies I always buy on DVD, because I spent enough money on a home theatre audio system, and I will be getting the best use out of it.

The only thing I download is TV shows that haven't aired in the UK, and that's limited to only a couple of shows.

I WISH it was legal, and hate the DCMA, but as long as its illegal, I try to respect the law and not do it.

Music- I'm okay with it, as CDs nowadays are too expensive, and the nearest CD store is half an hour away from where I live, so it's easier to download. Besides, artists can still make plenty of money through touring, or selling their soul to McDonalds.

TV shows- I see no problem. Once you shell out the few hundred bucks for your TV, all the network shows are free to watch anyway.

Movies- I don't have against it, but I'm probably never going to do it. There are only four or five movies a year I want to see anyway, and I just find it more convienent to go to the nearest movie theater and pay for a ticket.

Games- Like movies, there are only a few a year I'm interested in, so I don't see much of an incentive to download.

If they aren't making the games/systems anymore. I don't know why anyone should have a big rpoblem with that. You go out and try to find Genesis or Super Nintendo games anymore, let alone regular NES. God forbid you have a Turbo Grafix 16.

I download music to see if I like it. I've been burned by too many CDs with just one catchy song for $15-20. Plus a lot of the music I like is old and just not sold anywhere. I like having the orchestral score to Super Mario Brothers, dammit.

Movies: I've only downloaded a few movies in my time, most of which I didn't even see, like Eyes Wide Shut. I downloaded it cause a friend wanted to see it. I had no interest in it and he never came by to see it so I deleted it a week later. Other movies I've downloaded were Airplane, the Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects, all of which I own on DVD. I did download and watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, andI don't have it on DVD, but I do have it on tape. What's the legality of that?

games: I've only ever downloaded Nesticle simulations of old NES games... which I own. I just can't get the damn NES to work anymore.

Last time we had a thread like this I started it, it bloomed to 20+ pages, and ended in BoredShirtless earning his second VI. Ahhhh, memories...

Right. As I said then, downloading music and other software is, if not theft, something damned close to it. However, the RIAA is engaged in theft and illegal monopoly on a large scale, so basically every side of the equation sucks in some way.

Music: I download music, then buy the CD by the artist. That, or I find that I only like one or two songs by the artist, and so I'm glad I didn't get the CD. Most of my collection of music consists of classical (ie, public domain) songs, video game music, music from foreign media or bands (if it's lisenced here I'll usually get it), or things that are out of print.

Movies: Why bother? If there's a movie I don't want to pay to see, I'm not giong to spend five hours and several gigs of bandwidth getting it. I'll wait to see it on TV, or if someone else rents it. I will download foreign films that are fansubbed, assuming they aren't lisenced, beacuse who knows when/if I'll be able to see them otherwise?

Games: Not unless they're legally downloadable.

Rogue 9 wrote: Right. As I said then, downloading music and other software is, if not theft, something damned close to it.

i believe the term you're looking for is piracy.

MP3s and music: I more often then not download mp3s. The reason is because I have varied music tastes and its VERY hard to find the music I want to get. There is also the fact that I don’t want to pay $20 for a CD that I only like two or three songs on. If I like the music enough or the group enough, I will go out and buy the CD to support them. If given the chance to use a pay per month service I would, but my requirement is that it hold the COMPLETE music collection of all the music production companies. I am not going to shell out $15 a month and not be able to download every song I want.

Games: I download games semi frequently. I do this as a means to test the game out to see if I am interested in buying the copy or not. I did this with Max Payne, then bought it. I did this with Freelancer, and didn’t buy it.

Movies: I have more then 100 DVD rips. Funny thing, I haven’t cost those companies a penny. I either had no intention of buying those DVDs, or I am already in the process of buying them and just downloaded them before I had the money to buy them.

SirNitram wrote:<snip> Games... Well, by my knowledge, all games downloaded tend to work poorly compared to a bought copy, are stripped down to be lighter to download, and generally won't do multiplayer. So I wouldn't bother, simply because it's alot of work with minimal gain.

With all respect, pirated games are these days simply exact images of cds. I haven't encountered a cutdown, sans-cutscenes game since the days of dialup.

I think iTunes is cool. While there's no fucking way I'm paying $30 for a damn cd with 1 good track, I'm quite prepared to pay $1 per song for any configuration of music I want.

DL'd movies are stupid and lame, unless they're dvd images to be burnt and played in the regular fashion. Again, $30 for a DVD I'll watch once is silly, and there's no resale market. But I don't watch movies in shitty windows on my puter.

I don't see the point in pirating games. A decent game comes out so rarely that I'm happy to give someone my money, especially if its a smaller dev house. Sure, people might dl something shit like Nexus for a bash, but they never would have paid money for it anyway. Every image on my server is legally owned by me, so I'm quite the exception.

Multi doesn't interest me. I'll have to by HL2 eventually - even though it thoughly disappoints me as a game - because Infiltration is going to use it. However, all the multi I play is through mods, usually UT2k4 at the moment. Joint Ops is fun, and I'd buy it, except the addon isn't worth full price and noone plays just the vanilla anymore.