Aside from the "stealing" moral dilemma, do companies really lose anything when someone pirates a copy of their program/music/movie/whatever?

Some people like to try it before they buy it. So those people if they like your product will end up buying it and youll get your money.

On the other hand those people who wont buy it either way, they wouldnt have bought the product in the first place so no matter what happens that money wouldnt have been spent/given to the copyright holder.

Just seems to be the copyright holders are trying to get something for nothing too in a round about way.

 

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Let's just get this over with.

 

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It is theft and I fully partake in it and generally it is to the benefit of the company/rights holder.

 

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Lets just say w/o torrenting a vast amount of files... I also would not have purchased as many things as I have.

 

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I love listening to music.

I have a ton of mp3s. all made from my brothers and friends cds.

I have only ever bought a single CD and that was because I forgot my mp3 cds at home on a 13 hour flight.

I have a subscription to pandora though.

and I listen to youtube videos.

even without the mp3s I would never buy a music cd. hell I don't even have them accessible right now they are on an old harddrive from my previous computer, still has not made me buy a cd (nor an mp3 for that matter.)

 

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I agree with this but in general I say they need to rethink their business model. A viable streaming system, including purchasing downloads for off line use, would go a long way to solving their problems. Most people I know, including myself, would buy tons of stuff if it was out there and easily available. I would do that over 'other means' even if they were available and free.

GoG and Steam are great examples. I know I can get most of that stuff other ways, heck a lot of it I already bought once, but I still get it from there. Easy, accessible and a good selection.

 

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err It is stealing, I said that in the OP....Im not making an argument against that. Im making the argument that it doesn't cost copyright holders anything when something is "digitally" stolen because the person stealing it wouldnt have paid for the product whether they had stolen it or not. In fact like I said in the OP some people would be more likely to buy their product or other products from them if they try a program from a company for free.

 

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They lose pretend profits that they promised sharholders....


EA set a new record this year and made more then they thought they would so ya pirateing is not hurting them one damn bit... But it is a great excuse to gouge thier consumers.


The EA pass they use on the need for speed games is nothing more then a money grab. They are one of the worst offenders of screwing customers over. Yes the quality of the games they sell is great but the buisness practices they employ leave much to be desired. Ubisoft is following in thier footsteps which is really to bad.


Virus/spyware free and easy access are my incentives to buy on-line otherwise I don't pay for it.

I'm just about done buying any form of entertainment. Soon I will just go to the library. Tired of being gouged.

Piracy is NOT A NEW ISSUE.

It started when you could record songs off the radio, and it's covered all media streams.

Films: It costs a lot to go see films now. Film companies make a lot of crappy films. Those crappy films STILL MAKE MONEY at the box office.

So what is the piracy problem there? Companies aren't making a truckload on DVD sales like they did before? Maybe they should try not paying stupid actors 10,000,000+ a film, eh?

Music: Bands have always made their money touring. ALWAYS. Piracy does not effect touring numbers. Hell, if I was in a band, I would give songs away on my website, and make the money through advertising ON said website, and then tour to earn.

Music companies make their money from record sales. ALWAYS. I, frankly, don't give two pieces of profanity about the music companies. They're the idiots that get talentless twats to use AUTOTUNE and churn out 'paint by numbers' pop songs.