Maybe I shouldn't have said it was the best thing ever though, because it's not in my opinion. 

And just one more thing to all of you: we're talking about piracy in general (movies, games, books) not just music.

 

I know lots of people do it (I understand why, and it's not for me to judge), but I don't partake of illegal downloads. I mostly buy physical products anyway, which causes its own problems (the wife's forced me to crate up my 2k+ CDs and stuff them in a big cupboard, which makes owning the physical product kind of pointless ).

 

 However, I do agree that the world is unequal enough already. But that's enough of my lefty politics

It's softcore piracy  ohoh so funny. Anyway, yes, I think people who upload music on YT without permission are technically pirates. And people who listen to it on YT... well, what difference does it really make if you download it or just stream it? I'm not sure, there's some difference I guess. I know that many artists consider it a good way to get free advertising, though. 

Games and Movies wise, never done it, never will. Most of the PC games I play I can get on Steam for relatively cheap, and for the old console games I play, they can get expensive, but I still can usually find them for a decent price. PS2 games are dirt cheap, so when getting those I have no worries. 

And I don't watch many movies, and when I do I just watch it from Netflix.

What annoys me are people who are against free streaming music. I don't want to waste money on an album I don't like, so I want to give it a listen first. That's why I've decided to never buy a King Crimson album again, seeing as Robert Fripp won't let people listen to his freaking music. Nice business strategy Fripp   

Btw, you're not alone on not approving of One Direction. I don't think anybody on here does. 

I forgot about books, I love to read but I need the actual book in my hand in order to enjoy it. Never liked Audiobooks and I've hated eBooks ever since they came out, kind of takes the point out of reading doesn't it?

Personally speaking I get far too many promo albums for free anyway that I can even listen to so I'm never short on new music, much of which I get before the release dates as well (and yes I have on more than one occasion been asked to leak an album - never have and never will). Even then if I really like something I'll replace it with the CD as soon as I can. My CD collection is no doubt small compared to some but I'm still rather proud of it. 

As for films I do watch them but I'm never in a hurry to. In my town we have this shop called The Trade Inn anyway which sells all films for £1 each so I just wait to see what they get in. 

Games? Well games are a biggie on anti-piracy. I hate DRM. Yet as a legitimate player I have to put up with it whereas a pirate is sitting there having fun. I've never pirated a game and never will (my Steam is full of unplayed games anyway) but it annoys me when DRM stops me from playing something I paid for as was the case with Far Cry 3 when UPlay went down (services like Uplay are no doubt the reason people pirate PC games). Why I have to even go through Uplay when I bought the game on Steam is also ridiculous. So I'm less sympathetic to developers who complain about piracy when they hinder people who actually bought their game in such a way. 

Oh and I like real books too. 

 

Compressed files are far from ideal, but unfortunately it's a compromise that's unavoidable if you want some decent tunes with you wherever you are.

Download a movie and get picked up by Navy Seals? No thank you.

Is CD-quality a full rez copy to you?

I think things like SOPA is total bullshit, though. It was stupid and unnecessary. It's part of the reason I hate anti-piracy campaigns. 

Adapt or die, woof!