Don’t think it would hold up legally but while I have downloaded a lot of music, I don’t consider any of it “illegal” as in it’s stuff I own/have owned, which I believe is legal (and I don’t sell, redistribute etc). I don’t download movies so N/A. Takes too long and that’s what Netflix is for.
You? Remember this is anonymous, fess up 
I have maintained, like you do, that if I own the CD, and am too lazy to dig it out, rip it, and put it back, I should be able to grab it online.
That being said, it took 2 weeks with 4 PCs on a mini-network to Rip my entire catalog. The idea of the Feds banging on my door is/was not appealing.
Also, since I used to receive royalties from a movie I was in (a bit part), I frown on piracy of movies. You may not think Tom Cruise (for example) is worth 20 million a picture, or that they shouldn’t have made MIB 3, but the way you voice that (and force the cost of movies down) is to not watch them. You don’t just deprive the actor of a paycheck; you also deprive the grips and best boys, and such of a paycheck.
Public library online - free legal downloads, there is a weekly limit but with time you can get a lot. or Belong to lots of public libraries.
I realize you meant “you” generally, but in my case, not really. If I’m not interested enough in a movie to pay for it, I’m not paying for it, period. I don’t see a diff between borrowing a DVD from a friend vs getting it off the internet. Or I just won’t watch it. That said, again I haven’t done it, tho I admit it’s mostly due to impatience of taking forever to download.
I’ve pirated stuff before and I’m sure I’ll do it again. It’s not something I like to do, and I usually try to avoid it when possible. My personal view is that if you can’t get it in a reasonably way legally then it’s free game. When it boils down to purchasing terrible quality junk from dubious bootleggers or clicking a download button I’ll always end up doing the second.
Most of the music I listen to is acoustic singer songwriters (OK, folk music) and I figure those people need the money. So I don’t pirate. I even feel guilty if I buy used CD’s.
I don’t think I’ve even borrowed a CD and then ripped it, although it’s possible I’m guilty of that.
Although the OP didn’t ask, I’m > 50. I’ve noticed that the demographic that grew up with the internet and Napster is a lot more ethically flexible about torrents and downloading.
I used to pirate music and video games, but then iTunes and Steam came along. Turns out that I didn’t really want avoid paying for things, I was just to goddamn lazy to go actually go to a store. Why I still can’t easily do the same thing with movies is beyond me.
I use to download current movies, but not anymore. I now have such a large collection of unwatched content that I don’t mind waiting a few months to get things legally. I do download a lot of old movies that are not, and never have been, available on DVD.
I don’t download music or movies. I download abandonware (old games for extinct systems) like crazy.
I don’t. I have enough friends and relatives in the entertainment business that I don’t want their work pirated, therefore I won’t cheat others.
My one exception: I do have a DVD of the Disney SONG OF THE SOUTH that was bought in Korea, and subtitled in Korean. I don’t know if it’s a pirate or not, but since it’s available outside the US but not in the US, screw Disney.
Early days of Napster and Limewire? Hell yeah, I downloaded like a motherfuck.
Also–we older folks tend to already have a bunch of stuff. We think twice before adding to the clutter–even on a disk drive. Nowadays, I get much of my visual content from Netflix–music from Rhapsody. I’ll buy a Blu-Ray if I truly love a film or TV show; or a DVD if it’s an obscure bargain–I’ve got an all-region player. Most of my recent CD’s were bought at gigs–to support the musicians, some of whom are my friends. (I’ve got many CD’s–which I’ll gladly rip for my own use–& quite a few LP’s.)
I do admit to using TunnelBear to fool the BBC into letting me watch Sherlock. They began Series 2 on New Years Day & PBS didn’t begin the edited version until May! I did buy the DVD from Amazon.UK the minute it was available. And the Blu-Ray when it was released here. Because All Region Blu-Rays aren’t, really–& I want to encourage more Sherlock…
I don’t do it.
In the early days of Napster, oh my. Lately, I make copies of my DVDs in order to remove the FBI warnings as well as previews that are unavoidable.
These both kind of describe me. $1.29 or whatever is standard these days isn’t too much to ask for a song I really want; it’s a matter of convenience, really.
That said, though, I download a lot less music now than I did when I was doing it illegally. The majority of songs I got for free were ones I wouldn’t be willing to pay for, therefore I rationalized that nobody was actually losing out on a sale. Yes, I do know that didn’t make it any righter, but it got me through the moral dilemma, such as it was.
This is close to what I’ve done. Things like abandonware software, or old console ROMs and emulators, I will regularly download. They are no longer for sale from the original owners, and are often not available at all used. I will also do the same for out-of-print music or movies that aren’t otherwise available. “No cd” cracks of games that I already own I will also occasionally download. I will freely rip, download, or format-shift anything that I already own the physical media of.
There are some grey areas…does owning the tangled 8-track cassette of Sgt Pepper entitle me to free download of the mp3’s? Probably not. But if my aging cd wont’ play because of “bit rot”, you betcha.
I mostly draw the line at redistribution or reselling.
I don’t illegally download. It’s always been stealing to me. If you want something, pay for it.
StG
I download both music and movies. I have approx. 8TB of films and 375GB of music I have downloaded.
I know I shouldn’t do it.
I do it anyway.
I don’t feel bad about it.
I bought a movie once and the dvd turned out to be blank, so I downloaded the movie. I’ve also downloaded a few things that were otherwise unavailable, but deleted them afterwards.
In general, I feel that IP violation is something to be avoided if possible. I just wish the big entertainment companies would get their heads out of their asses.
I do, but nowhere near as frequently as I used to. If I want to listen to a song I don’t own, I go find it on YouTube, where it’s been released by the artists themselves. For software, there’s usually a free solution available somewhere, you just need to look. I’m mostly a retro gamer, and there’s enough retro games that I usually don’t have to look into the ones that aren’t free.
I still occasionally download books that I own the hard copies to (or that I could get at the local library, since it doesn’t do digital yet), and will occasionally download a game I want that I can’t quite afford at the moment but will later. And I am all about abandonware and (old school) emulation. But, other than that, I don’t do much.
And, yeah, I’ll always use NoCD hacks, but I can usually find them in places I trust more than bittorrent.
But I will say that the argument that I’m not giving money to someone doesn’t really bother me. If I think someone NEEDS money, I give it to them. I don’t buy stuff from them.