31–40 of 641 posts
I preferred the old days, with just a single cable/sat set-top box. Might not have been able to stream on-demand, but at least I only had to look in 1 place to record (series link etc) or work out what was available.
As I've gotten older, I think my morals have gotten more defined. I no longer think that piracy is acceptable. Someone spends time and money to produce something, and I think they get the right to sell it however they like. My choice, of course, is to pay for the content, or just not to consume it. I don't believe I have an inherent right to consume any content I want for free. The counter argument is usually that a…
We approached a middle ground of pricing and accessibility, but it only lasted so long. The other side over monetized, so the consumer has to counter attack and stop paying.
It’s a wild bargaining scheme, we are in a digital bazaar. Never give up a tool in your tool shed.
For episode 2 onwards I could buy the season of Discovery through apple tv, which I did. I assume S5 will be on Paramount Plus which is now available in my country, so I subscribe to that if I want to watch it.
As far as I'm concerned if I can't buy it, it's fair game, if I can pay for it then I will, or I won't watch it.
It depends. Games and music - no, I'm glad to pay for Spotify subscription, and I'm happy to buy a game every once in a while. Movies and TV shows - yes, if I cannot find them in Netflix. Sometimes I want to watch something, and it's not available in Netflix in my region, or not on Netflix at all. What choices do I have?
I usually choose not to watch.And not because of morals, but because the life is sad when so much effort goes into consuming content.
Where the streaming services are getting in trouble is if they are less convinient than piracy. Steam's success is largly built on being more convinient than pirating games, and similarly early Netflix was more convinient than pirating movies. Netflix and Amazon Prime still are on the "more convinient than piracy" side for me, the plethora of other streaming services not so much.
And then there's the question whether watchin Youtube with adblocker and SponsorBlock is equivalent to piracy. It is damn convienient.
Back then, much of our TV viewing was with the old Netflix DVD-through-the-mail thing, and then various torrent sites. When more and more streaming services started popping up, I torrented less and less to being zero. But now with the shake-up with some of the streaming services (like HBO Max), you just can't get some of the shows anymore...or else you have to buy entire seasons from Amazon or wherever. I haven't resorted to it yet, but I can see how pirating will take a new upswing as the streaming services keep damaging themselves.
I really don’t want to manage files more than I already do.
1) I find a TV-show or movie I want to see
2) I go to justwatch.com to see if any streaming services or digital stores carry it in my area
3a) If 2 is true, I navigate there and watch it
3b) If 2 is false, I open sonarr/radar, insert the show/movie there and wait.
Steam/GoG pretty much shut down any budding game piracy needs I had. It's just so easy and the sales are so common I've got more games in my collection than I have time to fully complete.
Same for music Spotify and Apple Music cover a good 99.99% of my music needs. There are a few rare albums or artist who go against the grain that are missing, but I can live without those.
Books I could pirate, but the Kindle is too simple to bother - or I can just grab the book from the local library.
If paying is easier than piracy, I'll always pick paying.
The front end has changed from xbmc to kodi to plex, but it’s been the same recipe.
It’s easier to see what’s available. New shows and movies are presented to me based on my real interests rather than what Netflix is promoting, etc.
Interestingly, this isn’t always from pirating as content may come from ripped purchased dvds or even sideloaded from subscribed services (eg, subscribe to hbo, download content from tracker).
I feel like the product is known, but it’s hard to get a business model working that’s legal. Kind of like a Napster moment. I thought Netflix would be Spotify, but that didn’t workout.
Tl:dr; never stopped pirating as non-pirated hasn’t been as good for almost 20 years.
If I want to watch a particular movie, and it’s not on Netlix or the iTunes Store in my country, I’ll pirate it, as I don’t feel like signing up for yet another service.