It turns into a repetitive argument at some point—what was once in vinyl & on the radio gave way for the cassette which gave people an opportunity to copy music off their radios and turntables to listen how they wanted. Then VCRs became the medium for copying movies. Today’s market is about ready availability, where online, you find convenience and you get that convenience fast. When it comes to pirating movies, music, or whatever to turn a profit, I think it’s safe to say it’s not kindly looked upon, but to say copying something for your own enjoyment is illegal, I don’t see it so clear cut and dry.
I personally love collecting movies and because of that I find myself at odds sometimes. For any of those that have pirated something and have liked what they’ve seen/heard/read/etc, at some point you might have been interested in purchasing it. Theatrical releases that make it to torrents are probably the best example because you can make the decision there and then if it’s something you want to see. The whole Wolverine: Origins debacle was an instance of whether to spend $12 to go and see it in theaters, or go and download it off a site like PirateBay. Harry Potter is still setting records while someone opts to watch a terrible cam version that someone taped in a theater. That’s mostly what people have to settle for on torrent sites… mp3’s in an inferior format until its available in either FLAC or 320bps (which rarely happens unless it’s popular) and with movies you’re dealing with avi and xvid, which are compressed so much that it doesn’t show anywhere near the quality of a DVD or a Blu-ray.
Also, there’s a movie experience that goes beyond the movie—seeing the bonus features on a DVD is one and like many Criterion releases, reading about the making of a film, the directors, critiques about the impact of a film, and the production are all interesting extras for me. I’m not saying I haven’t copied film and music before, but regardless of your moral stance on intellectual property, the copier loses a little something that they would otherwise get from purchasing a hard copy of a film
Your friend truly has an envious DL rate! And I do agree that most downloading formats are indistinguishable when it comes down to it. In fact, I take advantage of the 700mb .avi file because on a computer to HD TV DVI connection, I think it plays just fine. But don’t you agree that having films like Criterion releases on DVD and Blu-ray are kinda nice and are not something that can be downloaded as easily?
Rumplesink – That’s so funny you mention that as I do the exact same when it comes to getting recommendations on what films to watch. My friend only downloads films to DVD on 4.7gb single layer or an 8.5gb dual layer disc and eventually there’s always an issue with playing it on certain players. For some movies that I could only find as an .avi, I found that most of my discs have withstood the test of time though. As to throwing your DVD packaging away, it certainly saves you some space, but how can you throw away some classic covers like Cronenberg’s Videodrome!?
Ever download films for free? (It's ok - I won't tell anyone) almost 3 years ago
It turns into a repetitive argument at some point—what was once in vinyl & on the radio gave way for the cassette which gave people an opportunity to copy music off their radios and turntables to listen how they wanted. Then VCRs became the medium for copying movies. Today’s market is about ready availability, where online, you find convenience and you get that convenience fast. When it comes to pirating movies, music, or whatever to turn a profit, I think it’s safe to say it’s not kindly looked upon, but to say copying something for your own enjoyment is illegal, I don’t see it so clear cut and dry.
I personally love collecting movies and because of that I find myself at odds sometimes. For any of those that have pirated something and have liked what they’ve seen/heard/read/etc, at some point you might have been interested in purchasing it. Theatrical releases that make it to torrents are probably the best example because you can make the decision there and then if it’s something you want to see. The whole Wolverine: Origins debacle was an instance of whether to spend $12 to go and see it in theaters, or go and download it off a site like PirateBay. Harry Potter is still setting records while someone opts to watch a terrible cam version that someone taped in a theater. That’s mostly what people have to settle for on torrent sites… mp3’s in an inferior format until its available in either FLAC or 320bps (which rarely happens unless it’s popular) and with movies you’re dealing with avi and xvid, which are compressed so much that it doesn’t show anywhere near the quality of a DVD or a Blu-ray.
Also, there’s a movie experience that goes beyond the movie—seeing the bonus features on a DVD is one and like many Criterion releases, reading about the making of a film, the directors, critiques about the impact of a film, and the production are all interesting extras for me. I’m not saying I haven’t copied film and music before, but regardless of your moral stance on intellectual property, the copier loses a little something that they would otherwise get from purchasing a hard copy of a film
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Ever download films for free? (It's ok - I won't tell anyone) almost 3 years ago
Your friend truly has an envious DL rate! And I do agree that most downloading formats are indistinguishable when it comes down to it. In fact, I take advantage of the 700mb .avi file because on a computer to HD TV DVI connection, I think it plays just fine. But don’t you agree that having films like Criterion releases on DVD and Blu-ray are kinda nice and are not something that can be downloaded as easily?
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Ever download films for free? (It's ok - I won't tell anyone) almost 3 years ago
Rumplesink – That’s so funny you mention that as I do the exact same when it comes to getting recommendations on what films to watch. My friend only downloads films to DVD on 4.7gb single layer or an 8.5gb dual layer disc and eventually there’s always an issue with playing it on certain players. For some movies that I could only find as an .avi, I found that most of my discs have withstood the test of time though. As to throwing your DVD packaging away, it certainly saves you some space, but how can you throw away some classic covers like Cronenberg’s Videodrome!?
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Ever download films for free? (It's ok - I won't tell anyone) almost 3 years ago
Haha.. I love it, that cover’s just too classic!
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