To buy or not buy?

[Paul Revere]

Illegal downloading is all over the internet, we all know that. But do you take advantage of it or buy albums?

Honestly, I take complete advantage of the fact that I can easily download virtually any album off of the internet. Maybe if I was rich I would buy all the music I currently have, but I simply can't afford it. I am in college, paying for just about everything, and can only afford to buy an extra thing every now and then.

I do, however, try my hardest to support my favorite artists. For instance, I hate Lil' Wayne so I would never purchase music of his but I may download a few songs.However, if The Roots dropped a new CD, I would be on Itunes the day it came out waiting to buy it. Sometimes I feel bad for not buying it, but the music is so readily available I just can't stop myself. It's also hard to resist listening to an album that leaks days before it hits the shelves.

So is illegal downloading something you take part in or do you feel it is wrong and why?

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I am an illegal downloader myself. It is just hard to go and spend 12-18 dollars on a CD when you can download the album for free. Although there are some perks for buying CD's including CD booklet(some have nice artwork), better quality sound, and now a days alot of CD's have bonus' like music video's or live concert footage. Also I primarily download most of my music from limewire and you can get alot of different virus' from it so that's a negative about downloading.

I do however like Paul Revere, support and buy CD's from my favorite artists like John Mayer, TI, Nas, ect. In the end the artist's barely make any money from CD sales anyway(they get most of their money from concert tours, royalities, merchandise, ect)and most have millions of dollars already. I do feel somewhat guilty when I download for free, but then I hear how TI just made 2 million from a sponsorship deal, or how Beyonce is getting 3 million for a movie, then it makes me feel not so bad about myself. In the end it is wrong since your stealing and stealing is stealing no matter what your taking but it's not the end of the world, I guess.

 

[X]

The only music I pay for is for those artists that might actually need my money. I love the Roots as well, but they need my 18 bucks about as much as a paraplegic needs a pair of roller skates. On the other hand, if there's a much less known band that I'm into (usually via seeing random shows), I'll gladly throw my money down to buy their album. For two reasons: I want to support independent music, and odds are I can't download their music anyways.

As for movies, I absolutely hate downloading them. Not for any moral reason, I'm just incapable of sitting still at my computer and watching a movie on there, when I have a TV roughly 5 times the size of my computer monitor. I have downloaded a couple though; only old-school slasher films that aren't available to buy anyways though.

 

[Harthan]

I'm not a big fan of downloading movies, it's unbearable. They're always low quality and I couldn't figure out how to get one onto my iPod anyway. I'll buy a movie from the iTunes store and go with that, but an illegally downloaded movie I have no interest in.

I used to dabble a bit in downloading illegal music, but the problem is you get crazy with it. I downloaded things I had no intent on listening to. Then I had a good talk with a friend on the virtue of hard copies on disc, and also on the fact that of over a thousand songs there were maybe half of those I listened to, I slowly bought the music I really loved and deleted everything else. So, all my music now comes out hard copies, of which I buy a few a month. Downloading just becomes almost like an addiction, for me at least.

 

[The Undercover Man]

I do both, i illegally downoad or i go to the local DVD/CD shop and buy CD's. The worst thing abotu doing that is that messes up your computer and the movies and music are usually por quality although you may find a decent "apple" in amongst the bad ones. I'll be going college soon to and there is no way that i will be able to afford an amount for a CD, these days things are just too dear. Some of my favourite artists are sat up in my CD collection, i only buy their CD's because i like them. I never by any heavy metal stuff because i can't get to like it. All the artists i can't stand and their music i just usually download at least one song made by them.

 

[HBK-aholic]

If I love the artist, I'll buy the albums no probelm. Just recently I bought Snow Patrols new album and Enriques greatest hits. I won't illegally download their music as I want the originals, and if I love them that much I think they deserve the money.

I haven't downloaded anything in a while, actually. LAst was probably Rihannas album. I hated one of her songs, loved the other. And so I didn't want to spend money on something I may hate the majority of. However, it was really good, and I'll probably buy the rest of her albums now.

I don't think people shouldn't download. You can pay £4 now for one single. Um, I don't think so. When they lower prices, people will pay for them.

 

[Sparky]

I do download illegally but (and i know its still not acceptable) I only do it to test. just like nicklebacks album. when i found out about that i had to have it, but i dont get paid til monday so i downloaded three songs to make sure i would like it. I think that is ok as long as you end up buying the album. It Australia its illegal to burn cd's as long as you have the original copy.

I also download songs you cant buy or find. like Shinedown I dare you i loved that song searced everywhere, Sanity HMV Virgin music all the local retailers and none of them had it so i had no other option.

But no Downloading movies is wrong, Wait to rent it if you cant afford to see it. as Mr Eko, (Xfear?) said its not wrong if the artist is somebody like 50 cent or Eminem or such becouse they wouldnt miss it.

 

[Dragonslayer]

I'm definitely a guy who loves original CDs (and movies too, for that matter), so I usually buy the records. I just love having the original CD with the print on it, the booklet and what not... Plus, most of the CDs I buy are from smaller Metal bands, and those really need every buck (or Euro, in my case) in order to be able to put out a new record. It costs quite some money to put out a decent sounding album (basically the price of a small car), and I know that for a lot of smaller bands, it's really tough - most of those guys have regular day jobs, and save the money to make new records... they don't get "rich" on their music, especially in this day and age of internet downloads. So I'm all for supporting those guys - because I love their music, and I want them to keep on putting out music. If I download anything there, it's usually just to check out whether I like the sound of a band, and if I do, I go to the store and purchase the album. If I don't, I won't listen to the downloaded stuff anyway and usually get rid of it lol.

Of course, it's a bit different with the huge mainstream artists, who have chart positions and what not... they make huge loads of money simply on touring alone, and still sell thousands upon thousands of records... so while even in that case, I will most likely still get the original album (an example would be Metallica) for above mentioned reasons that I just like owning the original CDs, I have fewer conscience issues in that respect. But in all honesty - I really don't have much downloaded stuff on my PC. As said - I prefer the originals. Of course that's expensive, but for me, it's worth it.

 

[CCS]

I usualy download ALL of my music. Basicly because im 17 years old , dont have alot of money to waste on cd's and Limewire is fast and easy. I was tempted to buy Metallica's new album a few months ago but then i seen the price tag. $20 is too much to pay when i seen it on Limewire for FREE. I realy dont feel guilty illegaly downloading music because all of the artists are filthy rich. Now movies are a different story. If it's a good movie i realy want to see i go see it in the theatre. but if it's some movie that looks ok i'll watch a crappy copy of it on the internet. That just saves me time and money. But i never burn dvd's. They're too poor quality and i'd rather pay $10 for a used copy of a movie and get the case and a non-fuzzy screen than i would wait 10 hours for the movie to download then watch the screen jump up and down for 2 hours.

 

[Pimpin]

I download all my music because I don't have much time or money to go to the store & waste $15 to $20 bucks on a cd that I want. I don't see the problem in downloading because it's fast, saves a lot of time that I some people usually don't have & saves money for other things that can be more useful.

 

[Tim]

I have a mixture. Usually, I download my music, since I rarely want the whole album. Usually I just get a song or two. If I really like the song, I will sometimes check out a few songs off teh album, then I i'll buy it. But if I want the album, or its one of my favourite artists i'll buy it. And sometimes, I decide to buy a random CD from a store I go into. That's actually how I got into Blink 182 and Rage Against The Machine.