Rational for NOT paying

because it's cheaper?

i steal its a hobby

so I can spend the money on food

because i dont want to pay the sales tax

When I used to make more money (before my health went downhill) I used to buy CDs all the time despite the fact that my friends were downloading music for free. Currently I bring in a little less than a thousand a month total (from my site and my Social Security income, plus whatever freelance design work I can get) and have hundreds of dollars in medical bills, minimum. That doesn't really bother me (and lots of people have it worse), but I'm bringing it up to point out that right now I wouldn't even be able to buy CDs if I wanted to, therefore I don't consider the music industry to be losing money on my account if I occasionally download a song that was suggested by a friend. The alternative wouldn't be buying the music, it would be just not listening to it. I think that if I can get my income up to a more standard level, and get away from Social Security, then I would likely go back to buying CDs retail since there are many places with reasonable prices (especially since I don't mind used products) and I appreciate having the original case and packaging.

I pay to see movies... with my arthritis I couldn't sit at my computer to watch them, and anyway Portland has an awesome chain of theaters run by a local brewery where you can see slightly older movies in renovated, historic theaters for two or three bucks (with pizza and beer). Mind you, I can't afford this very often, but I do it often enough that I don't feel like everyone gets to watch movies but me. =P

I don't buy new software... I just use the same software I've had since I last had a regular income. Occasionally I'll buy a game (the last game I bought was FFXI for the PC) but even that is rare.

As far as the music is concerned, I wish one of the legitimate services would come out with some kind of points program where you can watch advertising in exchange for downloading music. I certainly have more time than money, and I do feel guilty sometimes that I'm not paying for what I'm listening to.

the music industry shouldnt be so uptight, if people werent allowed to download music to check it out before they decided they liked the band and bought their shit - record sales would drop

If I dont, I wouldnt go watch it anyways or rent the dvd or buy the cd so they arnt making money off my ass anyways, so it doesnt really matter.

Same thing here...

Nice, I'll signup with your company now, thats for sure

how about using stolen content.
it is EXACTLY the same thing.

i don't steal - I don't want to go in competition with the goverment

I dont think he cares

definately, we can add that up to the list, but I'm gonna get this guy stuff and use it for free, see how he likes it

lol i dont

I don't pirate software, and the only movies I download are ones I've generally seen 1-2 times in theatres already, and want a copy of it

As for music, I download a shitload of mp3s, but also own a fair amount of CDs from artists I really like, and go to tons of concerts (2-3 a month), which I feel supports the artist a lot more than paying their record label for their album.

This statement by Courtney Love backs this up: http://dir.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ove/index.html

I think the difference with stolen content is that the thief is usually attempting to make money off of what they've stolen... I don't think anyone makes money with the MP3s on their personal hard drive. While I still think it's vaguely wrong to download music (and, like I said, will be back to buying CDs when I have a bigger budget), I think it's worse to not pay somebody for their work *and then* accept money for it yourself.

I would be buying a lot more CDs if they came with mp3 format, I play music while I work and I don't really like flipping cds every 45 minutes, also most music I download are either albums I already purchased in different media (vinyl, tape, etc.) or I am sampling a new artist.

I don't think using stolen content is the same thing. When you do that, you resell it and use it to make money.
Most people download mp3s and just listen to them at home or burn to a cd for personal use. If they were selling them on a street corner it would be a dif story.