Do you pirate media? Why or why not?

Very rarely, usually only if it’s given to me. The movies and music I really want, I don’t mind paying for.
Having said that, I avoid buying things released by Sony because of their over-the-top protection, which is to the point of rendering the CD’s unusable (I don’t have a stereo or DVD player, only computers + speakers)

Yes – all the time. Why ? Because i am in college and cannot afford to pay 9.99 for cds and dont feel like giving money so that the corporations can get a larger air plane. If theirs good small artist, I simply give them a direct donation so that they actually get the money or buy their t-shirts instead.

Yes i have a slight download addiction. I think my torrent folder is somewhere nearing 200 GB now. As far as downloading music goes im with mirza, I still support bands by going to their concerts when they come around. (Ive been to more concerts then i care to remember) But i just think cd’s are ridiculously over priced. If it is a small local band, i will however buy their cd to help them out.

Yes, I do. I second (or third) the reason mirza gave – I’m a broke college student. I’d rather eat and steal my music, than buy my music and steal my food.

I never use Limewire. I download songs that are made freely available on the internet. Usually I can find whatever I want anyway. If I like an artist, I make sure to go to their concerts so they make some money from me, or I buy a t-shirt from their band’s website. I’d much rather be a walking billboard than support the shitty companies my favorite bands have to sign to. :-/

If I can’t go to a concert and I don’t feel like buying a shirt, I at least make sure to show my friends my favorite songs. As I speak, my computer is being used as the source of music for a party. I advertise. :)

Yea because it’s free and I got no money. But if I’m diggin the album, I buy it when I got money. My rationale is that I’ve heard bands make the majority of their money from touring and not from album sales. So if you like the music you’ve bootlegged, see em live.

yargghhh

(yes).

@uberbatman
200 gigs of pirated material? Goodness…

I do, with money being the main reason. However, I have a strong preference for downloading music the way the author meant it, i.e. listening through Last.fm or downloading from http://Jamendo.com. And when a song is only 40p with those 40p going to War Child, being available for DRM-free download and I like the song, then I’d definitely buy it :)

It’s just so difficult discovering music that’s free of charge because they get next to no publicity…

I do also. I moved abroad and it was a pain watching American tv shows on a huge delay, so I’d just torrent. As for music, I have no real excuse, other than it’s instant gratification. I probably have about 1TB of downloads on a couple big drives. Now that stuff like Hulu and Mixwit are out, I don’t have much of an excuse anymore—but that’s not really going to stop me,

I support the smaller bands who are just getting started. Also, if they play a free show in public and they’re good, I’ll buy their cd. The big guys already have so much money.

What I do is download whatever I need, then if I really really like the product (music, movies, software, whatever) I try to send the author/s directly the full price of the product, thereby avoiding giving any money to the criminal RIAA/MPAA enterprise. This is easy with software and the type of music I like, but in the case of movies all I can do is buy the DVD.