Do you pirate music or software?

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

Do you pirate music or software?

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

Yes, I believe piracy is something to be concerned about.

And no, I do not pirate music or software or any other material, printed or otherwise, that is under copyright protection.

arbilad · Head Chef

I have my iTunes account for when I need my music fix.
Piracy is definitely a problem for companies. It's one reason why the company I work at hasn't marketed its software in Russia yet, even though it would be a good market for us. Piracy is rampant in Russia.
But on the flip side, I think that the industry associations vastly overestimate the damage done by piracy. One of their practices, for instance, is to estimate the number of pirated copies that exist, then count each one of those copies as a lost sale. That's not the case. In many cases, those people would have never bought a copy of the software, but were happy to pirate a version for free.

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

Recently my family and I went to the local saturday swap meet. There were four booths selling pirated DVDs of movies just released in the theater a day or so before. You could get like two DVDs for $10. My kids really wanted some bad but I explained to them that they were stolen and buying stolen DVDs was wrong. They were bummed but I think it made a point. Then yesterday I read in the paper that the police with a complaint by the MPAA arrested all the vendors who were selling these DVDs. I'm trying to teach them that pirated movies and music is just like stealing. If I listened to or watched them myself then what would they be learning from my example.

Also, as a reenactor portraying a British soldier, my friends and I get paid to be in movies and documentaries. Usually it isn't a huge pile of money but it is additional income. If people view or buy pirated DVDs that means they are stealing from me, my family, and my friends so it really hits home then. There are plenty of legal ways to listen to and view stuff legally. Many older films and music are available for free on a limited basis to view online. Services such as I tunes where you pay or even some supported by advertisements are available. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what is available online with permission and what is not. I know a guy that posts major parts of his retail documentaries on Youtube. With Youtube sometimes it is hard to tell if the artist or copyright owner is the one puting up the clips because they don't identify themselves well. This is the case with this guys clips. In fact, it is difficult to trace the clips back to his website to even purchase the full DVDs!

I've never been into the pirated software deal not just because it is wrong but because I'm so incompetant that i need tech support, badly. Pirated software has not tech support.

Sometimes it can be hard to know if what you purchased is fake or real. Even the guys selling it sometimes can't tell. I've seen some pirated movies and music packaged so well that I would not be able to tell. What do you do then? Media and software are not the only things pirated. Many items you buy everyday may be fakes. I guess we just have to do our best to not actively support fakes and pirated stuff.
So please, don't pirate.

Jason

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

Jason... I don't think I've ever seen a shot of you in your reenactor get up... must share one sometime!

Speaking of iTunes... I just found out yesterday that HSR's namesake has a podcast where you can download certain of that cartoon's cartoons for free. Some funny stuff there...

With the estimated losses, yeah, I agree with you Arbi about it sometimes being grossly overestimated, but that is probably about the best way to estimate it. Code is being used without a LTU being issued or paid for.

As members of the Church, it is a good reminder to point out that it is piracy also if you go and photo copy stuff (like sheet music) above and beyond fair use or for personal use or newspaper or magazine articles or parts of books (or sometimes even whole books). On this, I think a lot of folks "feel" it's a lot grayer because so many of us have at one time or another been guilty of it.

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

Here's a link to an old picture of me in the service of the Crown. https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j77/jorton1/Jasono.jpg This was a number of years ago. I wish I still looked that young. If you watch Mail Call on the History Channel my buddies were on it last Friday. I had to work during filming and didn't get to do it.

If you watch National Treasure with Nicholas Cage I'm the redcoat running in the battle scene just this side of the guy carrying the flag. 10 hours of work for 4 seconds of fame. biggrin

Mahonri · Senior Bucketkeeper

I believe that all of my software is genuine.

fear of shiz · Profuse Pontificator

What possessed you to be a redcoat? I am curious.

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

fear of shiz wrote:

What possessed you to be a redcoat? I am curious.

Well it was a couple of things. First is my English, Scotch, and Irish heritage. My surname is English in Origin and my original ancestor came over from England to Conneticut in the early colonial days. But what really did it is I got hooked on a series of shows out of the UK based on the Sharpe's Rifles book series by Bernard Cornwell which detail the exploits of British officer who came from the ranks and fought in the Napoleonic wars. I really wanted to get into a Napoleonic era group but they are few and far between here in the U.S. The next best thing was an American Rebellion reenacting group. I've always been interested in the early history of the U.S. particularly the American Rebellion. I've always looked at the American Rebellion as a sort of Vietnam for the British. Many of the things they learned in their defeat they used against Napoleon. Things like rifle regiments, squirmishers, open row firing, use of partisans, etc were things that the young British officers picked up in the American Rebellion and adopted later in their campaign against Napoleon. I often wonder if the British had won if we would not all be speaking French now.

So I start doing research and checking out local units. Being in California there are not too many recreated units out here. Representing the Rebels there was really only the Sons of the American Revolution reenactors and these guys are horrible. Their impression is really bad and they are pretty clueless. There was an another American Rebel group in southern California called the Delaware Light Company that wasn't too bad. There were two British units and after seeing some pictures, those fellas looked sharp. They looked like toy soldiers. I emailed one group and the leader of that one was pretty negative and thought I lived too far away. Then I contacted the other guy who was the leader of one of the companies of the 23rd Regiment of Foote Royal Welch Fusiliers in America. Very nice guy, positive, and really got me interested. So I took the King's shilling and became a recruit and eventually worked my way up to Fusilier.

The history of this particular regiment is very exciting. They have been involved in every major conflict from the Battle of Minden in 1759 through the Gulf Wars. They were finally combined just last year or so with another Welch Regiment but still maintain many of their distinct traditions and customs. Aside from the Black Watch and the Guards, they were pretty much the only regiment left from the old days. Historically, they fought in all the major conflicts of the Revolution from Boston until the final surrender at Yorktown. Even though they surrendered at Yorktown with Cornwallis they managed to sneak their colors out and they still hang in the regimental chapel in England. The uniform of the regiment was something extra special also. Because of their past performance the regiment is known as a Fusilier Regiment and is allowed to wear the bear skin cap in all their companies. Usually, only the grenedier company as an elite company would wear the bear skin and the rest of the hat companies would wear the tri corn hat you see in most movies. The bear skin gives you the appearance of being taller and more fearce than a hat company. Back in the day, if you saw guys with bear skins coming at you then you could be sure that they were the elite of the elite as far as regiments went. The 23rd is also a Royal Regiment and has the honor of wearing the Royal Blue on facings of our coat and also the the emblem of the Prince of Wales is on our uniforms and gear. This emblem is the prince of wales crown and three feathers. The Queen herself is the Colonel in Chief today of the regiment, or was before the amagalmation. I have no idea if she still is today.

We know quite a bit about the history of this regiment specifically during the war because of a couple of the officers and one NCO wrote about their time in the regiment. The Diary of Fredrick McKenzie is one of them and also the very famous diary of Serjeant Lamb who started with the 9th regiment and escaped after being captured with Burgoyne and joined the 23rd.

It's been a blast. I've gotten to march at Battle Road in Lexington and Concord and in other battles and they guys in both my company and regiment are a blast.

In a round about way, I think that answers your question. wink

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

I think it's neat that you're a fan of multi-culturalism, and preserving your ethnic heritage, Jase...

--Ray

-- Edited by rayb at 10:15, 2007-04-19

Euphrasie · Senior Bucketkeeper

I love pirate music!

fear of shiz · Profuse Pontificator

I appreciate the answer. Very interesting.

glumirk · Senior Member

yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!

I don't have to pirate music. There's a program called Ruckus that allows students with a .edu email address to download music for free. The catch? They don't have everything, and the licenses are limited and so it's not able to be burned on a cd or played with anything other than the Ruckus player. So as I have their player open I get to see their ads and such, which in turn, is paying for the music I listen to. The "small" version of the player still has the ads, and that's as far as you can minimize it. They've got to get money somehow. If you pay a fee you can actually burn the music onto cds I believe, but I'm too cheap for that.

Before I knew about Ruckus I would just listen to Yahoo music videos, which have their ads all the time. I definitely prefer Ruckus.

I do have some stuff on my computer that I didn't pay for, but I've been good lately. I'm super against pirated movies, and I'm trying to become that way about music. Still weak there, although Ruckus has helped me immensely!

Software has never been a hardship for me. I'm a huge fan of freeware, but usually if I buy something I'll wait for a sale and am so excited about it. Plus I love student rates on things like Office and such.

-- Edited by glumirk at 17:14, 2007-04-19