[X] My Assistant

[Zero Gravity]

Piracy is a form of flattery

people want what you have

[Natsume Reiko]

I see piracy as a means to sample things before purchasing it or as a means to get something very rare that isn't offered on Ebay, through other means.

Software such as Photoshop is freaking expensive on an individual basis, however Photoshop is more geared towards corporate environments rather than the individual if that makes sense. By having people pirate it, they're creating a generation of Photoshop users that will then demand it to be brought into the corporate environment/schools where Adobe's main source of profit comes from. They hardly make much sales on the individual levels. 1k for the program as if. Unless the person is a super freelance artist, ect- not happening. So companies like Adobe should shut the fuck up about piracy on that regard. If you're that anal hurt then lower the prices or let teens continue to pirate and bring that skill to businesses and you make your money off of said businesses. It has created a generation of Photoshop users already and Gen Z is close behind us nipping at our heels.

Music I usually download to sample. If I like it I buy it. Simple as that. If I don't like then I don't like it nothing in the world can make me like it. The short 30 second sample clips don't do shit for me as a listener. I want to hear a song in its entirety and in high quality audio not shitty 128kbps mp3 files thanks.

Then there's the issue of availability of said music. I like listening to foreign music that most stores don't carry. Amazon's hit and miss. Fuck iTunes- shitty compression rates no thank you my ears hate the jangles and they usually rarely ever carry what I like. Where am I to get it? Importing is iffy. One day it's there and the next it's forever gone. So I usually end up with getting a pirated copy because there are no other viable avenues for me to get it.

Yeah it sucks for the music industry but if they fucking manned up and actually tried going with the flow of internet downloads and shit and actually offered what I liked and I'm sure a good number of people like with higher quality music files then I wouldn't resort to pirating as much rare music as I do. Last year they spend $200 million or something in LAWYER FEES just to get back $300,000 USD.

$200 million vs $300,000. What the fucking shit. I would have just let it go. Really. $300,000 is the price of a moderate house in Seattle. That's fucking pocket change for the music companies.

Games I rarely ever pirate if ever. PC games that depends. Steam has them for cheap so no worries there. Others like consoles and whatnot. Why would I want to pirate it? If it's something I've wanted to play or was looking forward to for a while I'd get it or if it's something iffy I could afford to wait a few months and purchase it off Amazon or Glyde. Cheaper and in good condition ftw.

I'd only pirate roms only if it's a hot game that's only available in Japan atm like Pokemon to play while waiting for my copy to come in via Play Asia. It will give me something to do and to familiarize myself with the game and whatnot. Other than that I don't really mind paying for the majority of my games since it provides around 40 hours of gameplay for me depending on the game. I've only had a few that were only 20 hours and I quit.

Manga/Anime: Eh, I usually am not impressed with the dubs of anime since they're done by the same 5 bloody actors and quality varies. I would rather DL the subbed versions from sub groups since they're usually more spot on in the translations. Stores have started to shrink wrap manga in stores so I can't flip through them and see if I want to get it or not. I mean what the shit. I like sampling things and getting what I like. By preventing me from sampling crap you're cutting off profit. I like purchasing books and the like and preventing me from being able to get a feel for a series, you're losing money even if the translation is crap. CoughVizcough.

All in all I see piracy as a means for people to sample things and then make the decision if the thing they sampled is worth their money or not. Consumers have the right to choose what they buy. The amount of people who pirate for the sole reason to pirate are pretty slim in comparison to people who DL to sample things and the like.