File-sharing sites are biting the dust, but I feel fine!

[hollybrooke]

It's been weighing on my mind for the last week since the Internet blackouts, so I may as well get this out of the way.

While I support modification of SOPA and PIPA, I'm not terribly upset over the takedown of sites like MediaFire or FileSonic or whatever they're called. Here comes a whopper of a confession, people: I DON'T DOWNLOAD MUSIC OR MOVIES. Quite frankly, I have a vast music collection on CD or vinyl, and I'm a firm believer on not illegally downloading leaked music or films. Call me an old fart (I'm only 31, mind you), but I miss the days when people got excited about album releases or actually got out to a movie theater to see a movie. (That, and my piece of crap computer really can't handle those kind of downloads. When I finally get my Mac, I'll probably change my tune on this and be allll over iTunes.)

In these days of digital downloads, the music industry really isn't what it used to be. I noticed this a couple of years ago when I was watching some "Jem" episodes (specifically the "Glitter and Gold" episode where Jem and the Holograms and the Misfits were pitted against each other for an album sales contest). You seriously don't get stuff like that anymore. I mean, you can tally the numbers from downloads, but it's really not the same as going out to search around for good music at a music store and having that legit album in your hands. I suppose if it's an artist you really love, it'd be worth it.

I don't know. I love advances in technology and I hate them at the same time.

Comments

[iosonochesono]

I've been downloading for years (iTunes) - the physical objects have never been anything but a hassle to me, particularly now that I live in a place under 300 square feet. Movies? Forget it, they cost 2-3x more than I can afford today.

That said, while I don't download illegally, I get why others do - there are a lot of reasons to oppose DRM as it is set up right now, and (most) people I know who download illegally do so in protest and a refusal to sign any DRM agreements! Since I like foreign music and am a dual citizen, I had issues with getting foreign music... Over time I've realized DRM (as it's set up today) is essentially like you don't actually own the music/movie stuff you buy - it's like a heavily arbitrary renting agreement. Like if I want to buy UK or Israeli music, I have to make an Israeli iTunes account! I can't use my same email/account as the US one. If I go to another country, the US account won't work over there of course, except for purchases from the US store in USD.

All the rules are a lot more prohibitive than they ever were with VHS. And they release new rules all the time that make it worse, and they don't work on universal materials with things like eBooks - so if a product exists, the things you bought might cease to exist if you have to get new tools! >_>

For a lot of people, it's way more complicated than people just wanting free stuff. I don't really think it matters though - they'll end up getting what they want until they piss off everyone rather than just the people with DRM issues.

[hollybrooke]

I've never really thought of it that way. Thanks for explaining this to me. :)

[iosonochesono]

My problem's not even one of the more common ones. I think that was the first time I realized DRM had a lot of issues - if I moved to the UK tomorrow, I'd have to make a new account to get music from there. And as far as I know you can't keep two accounts together on one iPod. So even if it's legitimately all bought by me, I have to treat it as though it's owned by two or three different people and can't play it all together.

But I don't have an issue with them busting people for illegal downloading if they actually ever address the DRM issues and come up with something agreeable. You really should be able to do stuff with content you actually have bought.

Pretty much all my animated GIF icons of copyrighted material probably came from people who illegally downloaded content because they couldn't import protected files to photoshop, lol. Like they should care about icons/GIF images XD

[evergreenelk]

I was a teen during the years of Napster and downloaded a lot of music in those days. I don't download illegally mostly because I'm afraid of getting spyware or viruses or what have you on my computer. :\ But, I should point out that I'm incredibly lucky to live in a county with an incredible library system. I borrow most items or for the occasional DVD, I rent from Redbox.