I'm taking a mostly amoral approach to this. I think I represent a significant chunk of digital media consumers when I say my top 3 priorities are convenience, convenience, and convenience. When an illegitimate source makes media acquisition easier than its legit counterparts, that's the avenue I take.
Even 5 years ago that meant I obtained most media illegally. Today there are few excuses for most people not to purchase their media. Rdio, iTunes, Netflix, etc. are all ultra-convenient with totally reasonable compromises.
The thing that keeps me from going totally legit is the fact that almost none of online media providers (that I'm aware of) offer high fidelity media. I want lossless audio. I want high bitrate video. I'm aware that most don't notice the difference between 256kbps audio and FLAC. But those who do have probably sunk a big chunk of dough into their media equipment and will happily pay a premium to use that equipment to its full potential.
Here's what I get illegitimately that I'd pay a premium for:
- I see a movie trailer I like and I add that to a movie queue via my phone. When a torrent is posted of that movie in 1080p 7.1 DTS at a high bitrate, it's automatically downloaded into my media center, metadata fetched, and shows up, ready to watch.
- I "subscribe" to TV shows (most of which are on channels I already subscribe to) which are also automatically downloaded in high bitrate form. These land in my media center with metadata in a UI vastly superior to any DVR I've seen. Certain shows are automatically converted to iPad-compatible format and synced wirelessly for commutes.
- I get notifications of FLAC/ALAC releases of my favorite artists/bands in my news feed. If it's something I don't have it's one click to download & add to iTunes. iCloud makes it immediately available in 256kbps on all my iDevices, while it stays in ALAC in my main library.
I realize that I'm part of a niche with the high fidelity demands - but I'll go legit when there's a legit service that can match my illegitimate service.
(Side note - I actually "steal" very little, but this is counter to my point. I have piles of unopened blu-rays, CDs, and records. I wanted to illustrate that cost isn't the deciding factor for many who use illegitimate means to acquire media.)
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