Honestly, Goober, all you're really doing is trying to rationalize stealing. The music companies are not just CD producers. They specialize in the discovery, mixing, recording, and promotion of music and musicians. They have a right to protect themselves from stealing as much as a producer of any other product or service.

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Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

You ducked my question. How do you propose that authors and composers and movie directors and software developers should get paid? These people already produce a product people are willing to buy. The fact that some people would rather steal it doesn't change that fact.

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The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

CD? What's a CD? o.O I agree the people who make such software should get paid, its just that software needs to be more flexible and reasonable as far as cost goes. Pirates will always find a way around, ALWAYS, because over all there are more of them then there are of a actual team of software developers paid to stop pirating. Not that I'm saying the copyright system is perfect either, it isn't, its a mess when it comes to software and isn't nearly flexible enough. Is anything going to be done about it, probably not, oh well.

I had vinyl records when I was a kid, and remember when the CD came out. While I do have a fairly large CD collection, it has all been ripped to MP3, and I purchase legal copies of songs that I want to add to my collection, unless there's a whole album that I want to purchase because I know it'll be good and I want to support the band.

It's like movies; I stopped going unless it's really good. Excellent movies end up in my DVD collection as extra support for quality filmmaking. If more people purchased good movies and music and shunned bad, the companies would have incentive to provide a better product.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

Likewise, though I don't think I've ever had a CD collection, but then again by the time I was old enough to have a job everyone was using MP3's. *coughs* Of course that would state that I used Napster (because I don't believe there was any legal way to obtain MP3's at that time), in its hay-days, well I did. Then again I was also 14, or 15 at the time. Hrm, point is I've never owned a CD.

Likewise, problem is, the majority seems inclined to pay Hollywood to continue making films that are made with minimum effort and with money rather than creativity in mind. I know this because just you watch, people will go to see The Mummy 3, Indiana Jones 4, Rush Hour 3, Die Hard 4, Jaws 500. :P I'd love for the American public to stand up to Hollywood (Not for their political views, I could care less), but because they just don't want to make original movies anymore. Why, its a risk, and as long as suckers keep paying for more of the same thats what we'll get. Meh, doesn't anybody ever boycott anything anymore?

That being said, a little something more on topic. Isn't necessity the mother of innovation? If thats the case I don't see how innovation could be dead.

Well you got a point there.

I have downloaded a number of MP3's...OK so it wasn't so legal - but I'm 42..what I downloaded is no longer available...besides I bought all of them as records/cassettes 25 years ago - so hey - I'm just recouping the losses from inferior recording media that I was sold.

I RARELY go to the theater anymore either - last time I went was (I think) Star Wars 3.
I wait till they come out on DVD - and then I pay the 2 bucks to rent it.

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The government cannot give without first taking.

Part of the problem is that record companies have to have a few artists, regardless of how good they are, who can turn them a profit. Only one in ten albums turn a profit, so they have to ensure that those that do turn a huge profit.

Of course illegally downloading music does not really hurt the artists (they make their money with shows and publicity) but it hurts all of the people behind the scenes-and there are quite a few.

Namaste,

What happened to creating great music because you enjoy creating great music? What happened to creating great art because you were an artist and wanted to make great art? What happened to being a craftsman because you wanted to create great works? It all comes down the fact that making money has become more important than the work itself. Is any software worth $1000.00 per copy when there are millions of copies being sold. The simple fact, as I see it, is the prices are artificially exagerated so people can make immense profits and keep others from creating something that might compete with the product.

In Peace,
Eglaelin

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What happened to being rewarded for creating value?
I don't know what picture you have formed of composers, poets, and artists of the past but they all wanted to be paid. People like michelangelo and bach contracted music and art to order for the wealthy nobles who governed in their times. Homer and the other singers and creators of epic greek poetry were professionals who were paid for their creations and performances. Todays creators usually have to work in the mere hope that they can sell their products to someone after they are done. The fact that you consider the price exaggerated is a good reason for you to find a cheaper product or to forego obtaining the product at all. It is certainly no justification for stealing the product as many seem to think.

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The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

I've never understood this attitude that we hold in the U.S. that good artists and musicians should work for pennies. A good musician puts in far more effort than any professional athlete, yet they should create for free. Are we really that selfish that we can't reward what good artists and musicians add to our culture and society? People say that musicians who want to earn money should step away from their instrument, but that is just idiotic. Everyone has to make a living and why are we so selfish that we feel we are entitled to the fruits of an artist's labor?

The same can be said of software. Most of us will never need or utilize all that Creative Suite offers, yet we feel we all need a copy on our computers. For the basic stuff that most of us do, photoshop is is way excessive. Somebody takes the time to develop that software and a company fronts the funds to pay for that development. They can charge whatever price they want, but if it is too much, don't steal it, allow the market to adjust the price. It seems as if the only people who actually purchase that software are graphic designers and publishers. Expensive software does not hinder creativity or innovation. We are all free to develop our own software and sell it or give it away, and many people do just that.

Hunger sucks.

If you can't afford the tool, find a different way to express your art. Writing HTML code is cheap. Clay is cheap. Paper and pen are cheap.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

Namaste,

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Yes, these things are cheap. Your right I am poor and I can't afford the expensive tools that others have decided are worth more than I make in a month. However, there are those who have decided that the current system is heading us towards the destruction of human creation because companies and people are starting to copyright and patent everything including core principles. Since I posted this thread I have become a proponent of open source and creative commons. I simply find it interesting that people, such as you, are willing to justify anything in the name of profit, greed and wealth. I never said that artist and creators shouldn't be rewarded. I said that the high cost of software is driving away competition and innovation from society. Are you aware that any book on computer and/or software is going to be more expensive than another book of the same caliber? This has nothing to do with rewarding creative work and everything to do with excessive profit.

I will choose not to buy a thousand dollar copy of software and instead decide to feed my children. I want to make non-violent and educational programs for people. If I have to use an illegal copy of software in order to do that work then so be it. I, of course, will choose to use open-source information whenever possible but if I need such software then I will obtain it.

In Peace,
Eglaelin

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It sounds like you are willing to steal the software. That's your decision to make. But why are you trying to justify it? Wouldn't it be more honest to admit you're stealing the product and admit that you have decided your need/want for the product outweighs the prohibition against stealing?

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The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

What the fuck? You clearly have paid attention to nothing I have written during my time here.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

I'm on the fence about this stuff. I can understand why each sector (music, movies, games/apps) needs to make money and turn a profit, and rightfully so. They have put a lot of time and effort in what they produce.

However, I have specific gripes for each sector. The music industry is outdated. I'm thinking in the near future (perhaps it has already begun) musicians will sell their songs individually online so that people can pick and choose which songs they like. I know this is already in place but the money currently still goes to the record label and not directly to the artist.

The movie industry is still turning out record profits and box office openings, yet prices continue to rise to go see a movie in the theater. Most families of four can't afford a night out at the theater and prefer to wait for it to be released for rental. There should be more innovation done here to encourage peopple to go see movies in the theater or find a new medium to release them so that more people can enjoy them instead of shelling out so much money for admission and snacks etc... It all adds up.

As for the PC industry, I feel no sympathy for their products being pirated. Every game I've purchased in the last year has been essentially a beta version with so many bugs that most are unplayable. Regarding Apps, I agree with Iam, they release half finished versions and either patch them or release new versions with the extra content that should have been in the original version anyway.

Just my 2 cents of course.

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Two-thirds of the world's lawyers practice in the US

I've been around since "Buy American" meant "Made in the USA".