Downloading Illegal Material

[Final Maxim]

i dont want this thread to condone it or endorse it in anyway shape or form. if the mods need to alter this thread so it dont bring the club into disripute then feel free to do so, but i think it will be a decent discussion.

i havnt bought a cd for years and i havnt bought a dvd for years. i dont buy any software at all whatsoever.

i look at it like i can either pay £200 for some software, or download it and risk being fined with stupidly low risk. More chance of winning the lottery.

it aint even anything big anymore to download illegal stuff, if i want a cd first thing i do is just go n download it without even thinking.

is anyone else the same?

do you think that people who own the cd's/dvd's really need to clamp down on all of this or is it simply a lost cause now?

 

[Longy]

They need to do something ASAP, as like you say - why should people pay for something when they can get it for free with low risk? It's so easy these days to get hold of stuff but what happens to the economy? although download sales and cd sales are still going strong from what I hear?

Also things like torrents are sharing all these things but is this different that me lending a few dvds off my m8? not really it's just on a big scale.

 

[veaney]

Everyone knows about other torrent sites, surely the police could just take action and shut them all down.

 

[-Leigh-]

I buy DVDs and I'll buy a CD if it seems good etc, but for the odd track I do yes. I did try the paying 50p for a track, but it came with a licence, and I could only rip it twice and some b****cks, so I gave that up.

 

[unofficialPete]

I buy CD's when I have some great respect for the artists, random songs nah.

Just to add to the debate I think software piracy has a positive impact for some major players and they won't clamp down on the little guys. Take Photoshop; when non-professionals get hold of this as kids and use it, it'll become and is the software of choice for professionals. It wouldn't be in their interest to stop the down loaders.

 

[@Spoonie]

Do you not class it as theft?

 

[Charlieboy]

All my car dvd's I have bought originals from the shop's i.e fast n furious 1,2 and 3 and no doubt 4 when it arrives here. Also gone in 60 secs etc...

I'm sure if the shops brought prices down to copied prices, which I know they not going to as no profit will be made then ppl would not download suerly..

 

[-Leigh-]

Do you not class it as theft?

Theft with minimal chance of getting into trouble lol.

If I thought I could walk into pc world, and walk out with a laptop and the chance of me getting caught was less than winning the lottery, I'd do it!

 

[Final Maxim]

Do you not class it as theft?

tbh... not really no

i think now if you do buy rather than download... you are the minority.

i mean i wouldnt go into a shop n steal some dvd's as im actually thieving an item.

But when im downloading something it just doesnt seem as though its anything bad?

i know its wrong and that, but so many people do it now that its silly not to IMO

unless you have really strict morals and have a very guilty conscience.. which i dont, so its all good lol

 

[andy905]

Only way they will stop it is by increasing the risk in my opinion.
I personally no longer download anything illegal and certainly wouldn't make any files available for others to download or host anything illegal. I think the record companies take a similair stance as the police with drugs. Go after the distributors rather then the consumers

 

[andy905]

You must feeling something about downloading illegally or you wouldn't have brought it up

 

[Tom]

Discussion on this is fine, however start naming or refering to sites and it gets removed or edited. Cheers! Tom.

 

[Final Maxim]

You must feeling something about downloading illegally or you wouldn't have brought it up

dont really understand what you mean

just thought itd be a good discussion on what should/needs to be done about it or isit a lost cause now

 

[@Spoonie]

You can't do anything about it because those that do it won't stop. You pretty much said so yourself.

 

[rustybolt]

ive not bought a CD since i found bit torrent at uni which was 6 years ago. I think the majority of people still buy CDs from the shops as they either dont know how to use a PC, dont have the internet of prefer to have an original copy on their CD rack.

The amount of CDs ive downloaded and then deleted is ridiculous. If i had to buy all those CDs to find out they were rubbish i'd be seriously out of pocket.

 

[BioHzrd]

Im in the same boat its just to easy to click donwload on a website now adays they need to clamp down but i really cant see them doing it its to wide an area to police

 

[Spammy]

Theft is theft, just because everyone else does it doesn't make it any less illegal.

torrents ftw!

 

[Brown.]

Theres nothing better then having a physical thing.... cd and its case are more then just music, the internal booklets are a joy some times...... i dotn see whats wrong with using certain tools to sample artists music so long as its limited to how many songs you dload 2 song max type of thing.... of coure purchase of the album should follow having liked more then 2 of the tracks.

 

[Storm_Force]

Everyone knows about other torrent sites, surely the police could just take action and shut them all down.

In theory yes in practise no, torrent sites are hosted from all over the world.... would be impossible to enforce.

 

[Jay_clio]

im safe yes i download all my music but i have payed a £120 subscription a year for my Scouse/donk music,

 

[bendee]

i love music i have my ipod in my car when i go out and will listen to it most days for about 4 hours (while at work) so if i didnt download id have very little to listen to.
if i had bought all 4447 of the songs in itunes i wouldnt be able to afford my car or to go out and have fun. so yeah i download and i dont look at it like im stealing it is classed as it but not like ive walked out of hmv with a cd in my pocket that i didnt pay for.

 

[DrR]

I'm sad, i don't listen to music, not bought or downloaded anything for ages, radio FTW.

DVD's always by them, but only because it's more effort to find it on the web.

 

[polarbert]

I have a friend who has downloaded films as he wanted to see it, but didn't want to buy or rent because it wasn't worth it.

Also he downloaded a High Definition film, to see what they were like, as he wasn't going out to buy a HD DVD player for 150 quid and then the discs.

 

[KDF]

The music companies have shot themself's in the foot. The did not keep up with technology, they did not keep up with demand, they did not and still do not listen to what the consumers want, and by that I mean DRM free music downloads.

It was quicker and easier to download it illegally than to do it legally and for that they have no-one to blame but themselfs.

I think Amazon is now doing DRM free.. but to be honest its too little too late.

With regards to movies, see above.. too little too late.

 

[Brand86]

I must admit I like owning physical CDs, DVDs and games, just to browse and have something tangible if nothing else. But, if there is a CD I want, especially, and it costs £15 in HMV or free over the net, then obviously the latter is the way to go. I do like to buy CDs though especially for up and coming bands as it is their job and downloading means they miss out, which I think is a bit harsh. But, if it means that Elton John can't buy another diamond encrusted pair of shoes, and even rubbish American rappers can afford a mansion and ten cars, then I am not really too bothered.

Apparently technically it is illegal to store music onto programs like iTunes, and if so they have obviously lost the war big time as iTunes et all are established products that have diffused through society at all levels.

There are programs used by businesses meant for rapid data share where you can download whole series in an hour or two, literaly gigs worth of information, with no limit. Think my housemate paid 6 Euros for a month and got thousands of pounds worth of stuff, like all Sopranos, all Top Gear etc etc.

 

[Nigel]

I don't download many films anymore. I use tesco DVD rental instead. Ok I have to wait for new releases but it suits me fine. I still download compilation albums to see if they are any good as I'm sick of getting them and the only tracks any good are the ones in the tv adverts. If I do like it, i'll normally buy it. I like having the originals on my shelf.

 

[Munson]

It's basic economics. Those with the means, aren't going to pay for something they can get for free.

 

[Revels]

I used to always buy DVD's, had a few hundred of them and just decided to sell loads, whats the point? I watch them once and then theyre just expensive ornaments.

I used to just download odd singles or if I wasnt sure on something, other than that Id buy the album. Now I dont even bother, since I progressed to torrents, its just as easy to get the whole album.

Some of the films ive watched recently Id be really disappointed had I paid for them.

If it was £3 for an album via download, then for the ease id probably pay if I couldnt find it anywhere else, but when its like £8, you can buy it in a supermarket for about that.

I dont see how its going to change, there will always be piracy and its always progressing.

 

[wlshyd182]

Downloading with P2P software is not illegal, only the sharing and copying of protected content, which a lot of it probably is anyway. Such songs can be tracked to the host and they can be charged

 

[unofficialPete]

Before the days of Torrents who used to tape films and cassette record radio... it's nothing new...

 

[Michael172]

Everyone knows about other torrent sites, surely the police could just take action and shut them all down.

In theory yes in practise no, torrent sites are hosted from all over the world.... would be impossible to enforce.

thank god.



I pay for a few things, like my copy of xp is genuine. However, games, movies, and other s**t, i do not pay for.

 

[dk]

I buy CD's when I have some great respect for the artists, random songs nah.

Just to add to the debate I think software piracy has a positive impact for some major players and they won't clamp down on the little guys. Take Photoshop; when non-professionals get hold of this as kids and use it, it'll become and is the software of choice for professionals. It wouldn't be in their interest to stop the down loaders.

interesting you should mention the benefit of piracy for some players, lets take tv shows like 24, lost and heroes.

All three of those shows would not have been the worldwide success stories with all that hype without torrents and illegal downloads. The shows were being talked about all over the internet and the world by people before being shown on tv in most countries and were made popular by this exposure.

I'm sure I even read a quote from someone from one of those shows that said that the show would not be as successful without the downloads on the internet!

 

[tommyboy]

My 8792 songs in iTunes mean I generally don't buy my music. All I want them for is my iPod, as others have stated, if I had bought the lot I'd have no LCR...

 

[Jay_clio]

I must admit I like owning physical CDs, DVDs and games, just to browse and have something tangible if nothing else. But, if there is a CD I want, especially, and it costs £15 in HMV or free over the net, then obviously the latter is the way to go. I do like to buy CDs though especially for up and coming bands as it is their job and downloading means they miss out, which I think is a bit harsh. But, if it means that Elton John can't buy another diamond encrusted pair of shoes, and even rubbish American rappers can afford a mansion and ten cars, then I am not really too bothered.

Apparently technically it is illegal to store music onto programs like iTunes, and if so they have obviously lost the war big time as iTunes et all are established products that have diffused through society at all levels.

There are programs used by businesses meant for rapid data share where you can download whole series in an hour or two, literaly gigs worth of information, with no limit. Think my housemate paid 6 Euros for a month and got thousands of pounds worth of stuff, like all Sopranos, all Top Gear etc etc.

www.rapidshare.com sign up and you can search for anything in the world, even software/movies ANYTHING. i payed for a 24hour 1, go worth my money back. never did it again tho.

 

[dick]

I must admit I like owning physical CDs, DVDs and games, just to browse and have something tangible if nothing else. But, if there is a CD I want, especially, and it costs £15 in HMV or free over the net, then obviously the latter is the way to go. I do like to buy CDs though especially for up and coming bands as it is their job and downloading means they miss out, which I think is a bit harsh. But, if it means that Elton John can't buy another diamond encrusted pair of shoes, and even rubbish American rappers can afford a mansion and ten cars, then I am not really too bothered.

Apparently technically it is illegal to store music onto programs like iTunes, and if so they have obviously lost the war big time as iTunes et all are established products that have diffused through society at all levels.

There are programs used by businesses meant for rapid data share where you can download whole series in an hour or two, literaly gigs worth of information, with no limit. Think my housemate paid 6 Euros for a month and got thousands of pounds worth of stuff, like all Sopranos, all Top Gear etc etc.

www.rapidshare.com sign up and you can search for anything in the world, even software/movies ANYTHING. i payed for a 24hour 1, go worth my money back. never did it again tho.

newsgroups.

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Only cd's or dvd's i buy are for birthday / christmas presents . Everthing else is downloaded . I just don't see the point in paying when its out there and openly free .

 

[ukaskew]

Simple fact is that if we all got hold of our music/movies/games illegally, there would be no money to actually produce the stuff in the first place. So you freeloaders should be grateful to us legit peeps for keeping these artists in business

In all seriousness though, I don't think twice about borrowing a CD from a friend and copying it onto my iTunes, but I guess that is illegal. But if it's a small artist/band I will always buy the CD/download, at the end of the day I want them to succeed. I would say 99% of my CDs/Movies/Games are legal, I know for a fact every single one of my games and movies are legally bought.

With movies it's a little different, I know copies are improving all the time, but I always (100% of the time) go to see a movie I really want to see at the cinema. The experience, the audio and the picture (especially digital projection) add so much more to a movie, I couldn't even imagine watching something on my PC, or watching a ripped DVD in stereo in the movie room. For stuff already out I would use somewhere like Lovefilm and pay the £1 or whatever it costs me to watch a movie, it's usually worth it just for the full DD5.1/DTS track. I realise there are probably pirate copies of cinema releases with full 5.1 audio, but it's hit and miss and I prefer to make sure I see a film in the best possible way. Same goes for TV now, Heroes/Lost etc are made to movie quality standards these days, I always wait for the DVD release to get the best possible experience.

 

[brisa4984]

i thought there was still a chance of getting caught even with torrents. Anyway like exige man said. There is nothing better than having a hard copy.

 

[Final Maxim]

the last guy i heard who was fined for downloading illegal material was fined. he settled out of courts for $2500
now, i dunno about anyone else, but ive downloaded easily 1000gig+ since ive had broadband in movies/films/games which is a HELL of a saving for a 1 in (however many people use torrents worldwide)

 

[172.com]

I download and I don't really have any qualms about it for a few simple reasons.

• I never used to buy DVDs/videos, I'd either watch in the cinema or wait for it on the TV, and often record it. Me downloading DVDs means that the movie/tv companies aren't losing any money as I never used to spend any anyway. The way I see it I'm just downloading something I'd see on TV (sometimes before it comes on the TV, but hey ho). I have recorded many TV shows and movies on VCR (which is technically illegal, but acceptable in the general public's eyes), so I see no difference in what I'm doing.
• I don't download hoards of music like some, but if I really like an album I'd want to physically own it, so I'd buy it anyway. I never used to buy many CDs. My entire music collection before I started downloading music was around 20 albums. Because of this, once again, the music companies aren't losing out from me downloading albums as I never used to buy many anyway, and if I really like it I'll still buy it.

I download through convienence, if downloads didn't exist I wouldn't be doing anything different in terms of purchasing, so I have no problems with what I do, illegal or not.

Everyone knows about other torrent sites, surely the police could just take action and shut them all down.

In theory yes in practise no, torrent sites are hosted from all over the world.... would be impossible to enforce.

Torrent sites don't host any files, therefore, in a lot of countries they're breaking no laws.