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I have found that this can be a divisive topic.

I do not pay for any non-physical content, that I can think of. I have occasionally given money to content creators directly, rather than pay for something. In total, I have probably pirated tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of content. I have only ever bought one digital album, and lost it after about 2 weeks after it disappeared from my iTunes, who then refused to give me the album again because it was a limited edition and they "didn't have it anymore". They didn't give me a refund.

I have found that this can be a divisive topic. I do not pay for any non-physical content, that I can think of. I have occasionally given money to content creators directly, rather than pay for something. In total, I have probably pirated tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of content. I have only ever bought one digital album, and lost it after about 2 weeks after it disappeared from my iTunes, who then refused to give me the album again because it was a limited edition and they "didn't have it anymore". They didn't give me a refund.

14 comments

[–] SilverBanana 3 points (+3|-0)

I think the non-physical content is just as valuable to me as physical one. It also is expensive to create: cost of expensive AAA game is $200 million, cost of a blockbuster movie is around the same.

I have the rule: if the company gave me a reasonable opportunity to buy the product, I will buy it. I have not pirated a game in a decade (unless it was some abandonware available only at floppy disk or something).

I do sometimes pirate TV shows when the local Netflix or Hulu is not offering them. For example I would be willing to pay for premium on Hulu to watch shows legally, but Hulu will not accept Credit Card issued in foreign country. So my only way to watch a TV show is piracy, I cannot pay for it if I wanted.

I would support international agreement supporting ban on rationalization of media. From both practical perspective and ideological one - free art is important for free speech.