Downloading Illegal Material

[Final Maxim]

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.

completely agree with this bit but when you got a baby, you simply cannot get out the house often.

the other problem is the stupid prices for tickets at the cinema, its like £25 a pop.

ill sacrifice picture quality for £20 a film

 

[DrR]

£25 a pop! Odeon in Leicester square aint that much!

 

[izard-industries]

cds wernt so expensive, then wouldnt need to illegally download them!

 

[172.com]

completely agree with this bit but when you got a baby, you simply cannot get out the house often.

You mean your missus can't get out of the house often

 

[Final Maxim]

 

[ukaskew]

Depends how much you are into them I guess, there is usually one film per year (although last year was awful) where I would have kicked myself if I had not seen it in the best possible way. The first time is the best with many films, so I like to think I made the most of it. Snakes on a Plane is the oddest example I can think of, at the cinema it just made perfect sense and the whole audience was so into it, it was hilarious.

If I couldn't go to the cinema I just wait for the DVD, the window isn't that big anymore and home cinema technology is good enough these days. We went to see Superbad at the cinema, it only seemed like a matter of weeks later that we ordered the DVD from Canada and watched it again at home.

 

[Final Maxim]

£25 a pop! Odeon in Leicester square aint that much!

say if we went to the showcase cinema, the most local one

Taxi - £4 there £4 back
Tickets - £5.80 each x2
Coke - £2 x2
Popcorn £2 x2

= £22.60 ish for 2 of us to go see a film

now i can stop at home, download the film for free , watch it in the comfort of my own home with own drinks (alcoholoc if i wish) and own food and only pay the electric bill and broadband line which would come to £1 max.

i aint condoning it, but theyve gotta realise that cinemas are simply too damn expensive IMO

 

[172.com]

say if we went to the showcase cinema, the most local one

Taxi - £4 there £4 back
Tickets - £5.80 each x2
Coke - £2 x2
Popcorn £2 x2

= £22.60 ish for 2 of us to go see a film

Drive - 40p in petrol
Tickets - £5.80 each x2

= £12 ish for two of you to go see a film.

 

[Final Maxim]

you cant go see a film n not have coke n popcorn.. its the law :S

 

[172.com]

Not got pockets?

 

[Final Maxim]

say if we went to the showcase cinema, the most local one

Taxi - £4 there £4 back
Tickets - £5.80 each x2
Coke - £2 x2
Popcorn £2 x2

= £22.60 ish for 2 of us to go see a film

Drive - 40p in petrol
Tickets - £5.80 each x2

= £12 ish for two of you to go see a film.

n besides, even with budget night its still over 12x what id pay lol

 

[172.com]

LOL. Cheapskate.

 

[Noodle999]

Do you not class it as theft?

No because it's not, if you broke into the record company's warehouse and stole a physical CD then it would be. There's the initial outlay of producing the album, but thereafter it doesn't cost them a quantity of money every time somebody downloads their album - any real "cost" of distributing an album is borne by the consumers who have paid for their Internet connections, and possibly by the ISPs.

A record company could choose to take civil action against you for depriving them of revenue through having downloaded their album, but then could they prove that you would have paid for the CD if you hadn't been able to get it for free? I personally have downloaded stuff in the past that I couldn't physically afford, and definately wouldn't have bought. I don't see that a record company could claim for any proportion of the initial production costs because they are taking the risk in the first place that their album may not be popular, and they wouldn't have not produced it at all just because they knew you were going to download it.

The main issue I have is with things being of merchantable quality - when it comes to an album it is of course largely a matter of taste, I tend to think if you don't like it then you wouldn't want it anyway, regardless of whether you can rip it off or have to pay for it. Software, on the other hand, is often riddled with errors/bugs and disproportionately expensive, take most of the releases of Microsoft Windows to date for example! If I paid £300 for a piece of software I would expect to get my money's worth, and I don't consider something that crashes randomly and is so riddled with security problems that I daren't connect my computer directly to the Internet to be worth the sort of money they tend to charge for it to be perfectly honest!

 

[Day]

We are told by the BPI that by obtaining/purchasing/downloading so called illegal material we are funding the illegal drug market and depriving the artists etc etc...

Should I purchase an MP3 file legally, the artist is likely to get his/her cut of this sale.
Looking at the current climate there is a high chance that this profit would be spent on drugs which is fuelling the illegal drugs trade.

I'll stop downloading material when these artists stop buying drugs...

 

[Monkey636]

Is it pure theft to not pay for movies and music and to say any different is plain wrong. Say you spent a month producing a song and then everyone started sharing it for free, you'd be a bit p!55ed off!!

It's completely rediculous to say movies, cd's, and music is expensive - it's their job and living! you're still using their 'goods'.

I've got a lovefilm subscription and a napster subscription. Sky anytime is also good for movies. I think this is the way forward - pay a fixed sub each month and pick and choose what you like. (Although The iTunes platform sucks and it's nice to see DRM is going to the grave.)

I do agree that cinemas need to improve, I can get a better atmosphere in sound and vision at home! The only benefit now is release dates, (or perhaps the social element to a degree).

 

[172.com]

You do realise people taped the radio for years long before the Internet was around don't you? Were you on your high horse about that too?

 

[Monkey636]

You're completely right, however there was a quality issue with tapes, recording radio 1 didn't quite have the same appeal as listening to the latest Now! compilation!!

 

[Jay Payne]

I attempted to download a movie once. it didnt work but 3 weeks later i had a letter from my isp stating that they had been contacted by a big movie company from the u.s. (the one that produced the film) they had tracked my ip address and threatened to take legal action against me. I wrote a very scared email to my isp explaining that i was new to computers and really didnt know what i had clicked on. they passed this onto the movie company and all was well.

Ive not done it since and never will. Someone very close to me tho has two pc's constatly downloading stuff 24/7 for the last 8 years and never a problem......

 

[MRBILLYUK]

A guy at work got the same letter . I think it was more to do with the isp trying to put the frighteners on people tbh .

 

[Jay Payne]

scared me

 

[Monkey636]

Perhaps my view above was a bit 'opinionated' but what I will say is that would you still download for free if your internet connection was monitored? (in the same way a shop has a CCTV system).

Some people will perform illegal acts if they can hide behind anonymosity.

 

[warine_warrior]

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 think admitting you have those films should be illegal.

 

[Brand86]

FM I think saying cinemas are too expensive isn't true, you were factoring in taxis too...why not drive there?? I do think the food is a joke though, but £10 each for a couple of hours relaxing in a decent cinema is worth it, assuming the film is decent. A much more involving experience no matter how good your home setup is IMO.

Paying £2.50 for a bottle of water there though is madness!

 

[@Spoonie]

Do you not class it as theft?

No because it's not,

So you have the right to copy it? You are not breaking any copyright associated with that piece of music?

 

[Wilkeh]

im a knock off Nigel

 

[young_lew]

i'll watch a film in the cinema and i'll buy dvd's

but i only buy a cd if i think the artist deserves my money lol

the last cd i brought was the Jamiroquai greatest Hits in 2006!

 

[timmmah]

I download albums, music and films off torrents, however if its just a single I want, I'll quickly just pay for it on iTunes.

 

[Michael172]

FM I think saying cinemas are too expensive isn't true, you were factoring in taxis too...why not drive there?? I do think the food is a joke though, but £10 each for a couple of hours relaxing in a decent cinema is worth it, assuming the film is decent. A much more involving experience no matter how good your home setup is IMO.

Paying £2.50 for a bottle of water there though is madness!

yer. ill watch a film at the cinema. the experience of it all when the film is good is well worth it.

 

[Longy]

FM I think saying cinemas are too expensive isn't true, you were factoring in taxis too...why not drive there?? I do think the food is a joke though, but £10 each for a couple of hours relaxing in a decent cinema is worth it, assuming the film is decent. A much more involving experience no matter how good your home setup is IMO.

Paying £2.50 for a bottle of water there though is madness!

See I can never relax in the cinema - why pay £10 to sit 5ft from some noisy chavs or annoying rustling behind your ear, when some guy eats like a f**king pig? I do love watching a movie on the big screen but other people can annoy me sometimes and when I tell people to shut the f**k up it puts me in a bad mood.

 

[Final Maxim]

cinema chairs give me a really sore arse too, plus, at home i can pause the film while i go for a piss

 

[ftbass2004]

I don't download, just because I cant be bothered tbh. I think having the option to download is good though, because it's conveniant to quickly check out a new song etc, then go out and buy the physical product. And downloading also helps to promote a product.

However, I don't agree with the continual downloading of products, because this is theft. Fair enough, your not stealing a physical product, but you are stealing the intellectual property of someone else. And because your not paying for it, that person is not recieving royalties from their work being used.

I also don't think that iTunes is any fairer as they take a huge cut just for hosting material - What part did they play in the making of such material?

 

[@Spoonie]

I also don't think that iTunes is any fairer as they take a huge cut just for hosting material - What part did they play in the making of such material?

Agree, don't know why the record companies don't sell direct.

 

[Andy.1.2-16v]

I'll downlaod an album and listen to it and if I like more than 50% of the tracks on it then I'll buy it...

 

[Scutch]

Reminds me of that girl from USA who was caught downloading songs illegally. She was hit with a $13m lawsuit. PMSL. I laughed. No more pocket money for her.

I download stuff, always have done. Got a newsgroup account though, so I do pay around £12 a month for that. Might as well use the money to effect.

 

[Final Maxim]

link to lawsuit?

 

[bully]

The music industry has been stealing off us for years with the price of CD's.

They deserve everything they get until we get all the ridicoulous profits they have made on each CD.

Some groups got together and stated that music was too expensive in the 90's, Dire straights et al if i remember.

Nothing got done. Now and again i see a CD which i think is worth it.....hardly ever mind you.

If they made albums a fair price i would pay a fair price.

Until they do i will download.

 

[ftbass2004]

Reminds me of that girl from USA who was caught downloading songs illegally. She was hit with a $13m lawsuit. PMSL. I laughed. No more pocket money for her.

lol, yea i remember that! there's no way that every single person who illegally downloads can be tracked, so its a bit unfair for certain people to be fined.

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Some people will perform illegal acts if they can hide behind anonymosity.

Behind anonymnonymnonym..... what , lol

Anonymity ??? Try saying that when you've had a few tins of the old wife beater lol

 

[samg1988]

i got some big ass warning for talking about this which apparently isnt getting removed from my account.

 

[Wilkeh]

Alot of times when I really want to listen to a song i'll pop up youtube and listen on there. I do download alot of songs on limewire, however, if the CD is one I really want I will buy it because I find the quality is much better. When you have amps/subs etc you can really tell the difference than using your own mp3's converted into wav's