BTJunkie voluntarily shuts down

[Azure]

According to TorrentFreak there are two more top 10 torrent sites that are looking at shutting down as well.

[Hack&Lube]

They should just go the way of Turbobit - stay alive but block American IPs. Us Canadians can still use it

[kermitology]

Or you could legally get access to millions of songs using services like Spotify or Rdio. Rdio in Canada.

Movies or TV on the other hand..

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Or you could legally get access to millions of songs using services like Spotify or Rdio. Rdio in Canada.

Movies or TV on the other hand..

This.

With how easy (and cheap) it is to get content, it really hasn't made sense to pirate music for several years.

If you could freely (as a paid add on of your cable subscription for example) download a TV show or movie rental from the night before, even with full network commercials, and load it onto a mobile device without messing around with format conversion, I think piracy of that content would be almost non-existent. People want easy and convenient.

With movies its not so simple, but Netflix has the right model on that, they just need to get Canadians the content!

[LChoy]

Originally Posted by Rathji

This.

With how easy (and cheap) it is to get content, it really hasn't made sense to pirate music for several years.

If you could freely (as a paid add on of your cable subscription for example) download a TV show or movie rental from the night before, even with full network commercials, and load it onto a mobile device without messing around with format conversion, I think piracy of that content would be almost non-existent. People want easy and convenient.

With movies its not so simple, but Netflix has the right model on that, they just need to get Canadians the content!

and to add further, Steam has made it simple to get PC games direct to your computer. Especially with periodic sales, there is almost no need anymore to pirate PC games. No more worrying about finding cracks and key generators.

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

and to add further, Steam has made it simple to get PC games direct to your computer. Especially with periodic sales, there is almost no need anymore to pirate PC games. No more worrying about finding cracks and key generators.

Yep. Haven't pirated a game for years thanks to Steam's model. And I exchange Save-On foods points for iTunes gift cards (15,000 points for a $50 card - hella good deal!) so my music purchases are not out-of-pocket.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Rathji

With how easy (and cheap) it is to get content, it really hasn't made sense to pirate music for several years.

Problem is the MPAA have been so regressive for so long that they helped get people into the habit of piracy. It's going to be much harder now to get them out. And some people no longer want to give them a cent.

Personally I think I prefer the Steam model where you pay once for the content and then have unlimited access for life, although whether or not I'd actually spend less money that way would depend on the pricing structure. But the idea that you lose the content when you end your payments kind of bugs me.

Oh, and freakin' EA is ruining Steam too. Origin needs to figure out sales in a hurry or they'll be pushing people back towards piracy.

[CISSP]

Originally Posted by BloodFetish

Yep. Haven't pirated a game for years thanks to Steam's model. And I exchange Save-On foods points for iTunes gift cards (15,000 points for a $50 card - hella good deal!) so my music purchases are not out-of-pocket.

In all honesty the only thing I use torrents/Usenet/DDLs for is acquiring what I cannot purchase in Canada/America.

I have a 3D Projection Hometheater System and I pretty much have to download all the various 3D movies as most are tied directly to purchasing a 3DTV or the shutter 3Dglasses (Several Thousand or Several Hundred) or are just plain not available.

I also use UseNet to get a hold of foreign films and animation that will probably never be imported or released. I tend to download rips of popular movies as well as purchase the actual blu-ray. I find it saves alot of time and it allows me to have a large archive of movies available to watch in my home theatre.

I haven't pirated music in awhile, but I appreciate the ability to preview an album before purchase through the download channels. I make a habit of purchasing what I enjoy as a show of support to the musicians.

I also find that software as rather easy to come by. I have a Microsoft Technet subscription (about $100 for the year) which allows me to have about 3 licenses per software for all the Current Microsoft Software library (Office, OS, Server, VOIP, Communicator, Visio, Studio etc.) as well as unlimited license of legacy and old software.

[HPLovecraft]

https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-...-finds-120210/

BitTorrent Piracy Doesn’t Effect US Box Office Returns, Study Finds

I guess I'll just put this here.

[Rathji]

Was that ever really in doubt by anyone other than the MPAA? I mean if I want to watch am movie in a theater, there is no way that I can come even close to that experience with a pirated copy. I suspect it has an impact on DVD/Blu-Ray rentals an purchases though.

[Azure]

Studies like that have been done before. The MPAA just likes to ignore them and scream bloody murder loud enough hoping people won't notice that research was done to prove their ridiculous theory wrong.

[Yamer]

I may watch a torrented movie/tv show or listen to downloaded music. If it has any value whatsoever, it is purchased and added to a shelf rather quickly. Some artists I don't even bother torrenting, it's straight to iTunes or the retailer.

Pirated may be free, but there is still a level of prestige with a full DVD/CD case.