Tuesday, May 5, 2009

If you can watch movies online for free, and download music for free via bittorrent & limewire, why still pay?

If you can watch movies online for free, and download music for free via bittorrent & limewire, why do you still pay for it via itunes/napster or netflix/amc etc?
If you buy something, it has DRM.
DRM can be unpredictable, and can mean that it might expire, or become downright unusable after the DRM updates or similar.
There was an excellent point about this in xkcd.
I'll link you to it.
http://www.xkcd.com/488/
That comic about sums it up.

My view is this:
I'm going to use games as an example here, as I'm a proud game(pirate)r.
If you buy a game, it'll be chock full of DRM. (Unless it's a Stardock game, in which case you should buy it)
DRM gas the tendency to install hidden drivers, and insist on connecting to the internet just to see if you've still got a legal version.
If you pirate a game, however, you can be confident that it's going to work, and that it's going to continue to work, without hidden drivers, without the compulsory internet connection, without expiry.
There is no point in buying something if you can get something for free that will work better anyway.
I'd like to dedicate this answer to the ongoing hate of DRM.
F*ck you, DRM.

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