Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

While not perfect, you have a way less unreasonable user experience especially in terms of DRM and hostile in software and APIs, and the fragmentation and balkanization is not even close to at the same level.

Most people who pay seem content with what they do and complement with free and open (mostly legal save for much on the YouTube). Public warez is spotty outside of that and the toplists. Private trackers are extremely exclusive, insular and inaccessible except for the very dedicated.

What's the dominating factor here? IP ownership and legal differences? Market dynamics? Opex costs? Industry corporate cultural differences? Or is it just circumstance that Spotify and Apple Music have been able and willing enough to make it happen while what.cd left a legacy where insular elitism became the norm and video pirates have always been more Tallyho?

Piracy is a better alternative. Far less hassle and better quality.

There is some very nice software out there so you can basically have your own private Netflix. Risk is minimal when setup correctly.

People say piracy is stealing. It isn't. It's the natural order of things. People support things with money that they want to see. People see plays, concerts, and movies in theaters all the time. Not letting people share a recording is ridiculous, as is the concept of eternal royalties.

Look at how much art we have that takes from prior art to turn it into something new. Piracy helps that goal. We wouldn't have people like Eminem if he hadn't pirated tapes. Piracy hurts no one, and studies show pirates spend the most on content.

A decade or so from now, no one will be talking about piracy because it will simply be the natural way of sharing, at least in free countries.

Every time I see someone struggle with streaming services (content not available, DRM, shitty artificial limitations, shitty players, shady business practices, things you "bought" disappearing because licensing changed), I get reminded that piracy is just so much better. Find a torrent, download it, done. After you've downloaded it, you have it forever, it's not going anywhere.

On the OP question, of course I do still watch YouTube, and of course I don't pay for it. I run uBO + SponsorBlock + some userscripts for a barely bearable experience. To be honest, the modern web is literally unusable without an ad blocker anyway.