What's everyone using? I feel like I've lost all mine now.

Visa debit and play.com/amazon.co.uk

Yeah I cancelled all my accounts awhile ago, purged and went legit. Its a lot nicer actually.

torrents

they're plenty fast these days, 2Mb/sec is normal on something popular


I'm happy enough to pay for something I really want.... the problem is 99% of the films/games etc... coming out now don't really interest me

not going to go buy a film, just to have it on the other screen while I'm doing something else

I've got out of buying things unless I really love them because the studios scam the crap out of you at every opportunity, like the new Die Hard boxset they are releasing next year to coincide with the release of A Good Day To Die Hard. It's going to be exactly the same release as the other versions but with one extra bonus feature disc, so no improved/remastered picture for 1&2 which look a bit ropey on blu, no uncut Die Hard 4.0 (which is only available uncut on DVD). You know they are going to bring out a super ultimate turbo boxset later to include 5 as well. I've lost track of the number of rereleases and boxsets of the Alien films...

Basically, I'm sick of playing their double-dip games as I've been stung too many times now, they can all foxtrot oscar. Unless its a must have I won't buy until something becomes extremely cheap or there is a clearly definitive version available.

There are two sides to this. Firstly, yes, they will scam you for every penny they can get, but then it is your choice to pay. If you don't think that something is worth watching then just don't watch it - if it's tat then it ain't worth stealing anyway.

The second is that unless they get money in the stuff will eventually stop being made.

If that was true then you would think they would change their business model the same way the recording industry has... oh wait, they haven't done a bloody thing smart in 10 years to move into the digital age. The simple fact is that greedy relics run the studios and the music industry with no concept of how to treat film and music lovers, there is too much inconsistency. If they actually listened to what fans want and treated the work with respect then everyone would be happy and more people would buy.

The vast majority of what I download is TV shows, either US or for catchup. I already pay about as much as I can for TV licence and TV package but there are a lot of shows just aren't available if you miss them (or aren't shown at all).

It seems this thread has been mistaken for something that should sit in Speakers Corner.

Well to be more on topic, I'm with Alan in using torrents and thats mostly for TV shows really. Private trackers are the way to go. Just as a sidenote from what I was talking about before that I think goes hand in hand, can you imagine if someone had come up with a legitimate business like Oink, providing easy digital downloads of rare and exclusive music from all types of genre, real stuff for fans to dribble about? It would have been bigger than Napster.

nzbs.org

nzbsrus
nzbindex.nl

my earlier comment was almost entirely aimed at knighty - why download it when you don't really want it?

As to their methods - I agree that they leave a lot to be desired. In many ways this is corporates trying to preserve their business by being extremely conservative. They haven't changed that since at least the time people started printing lyrics and musical notation.

Then, the worst people to religious folk should be the porn industry. Not paying for their content costs them money. That's why I never pay for porn or click on the adverts! Unfortunately you have to watch it to make the difference, it is a sad requirement that we act in this way

Anyone that pays for porn is a monkey, the internet is saturated with free porn

Quote from: Serious on December 12, 2012, 15:30:38 PMmy earlier comment was almost entirely aimed at knighty - why download it when you don't really want it?

don't really want it might be the wrong phrase...

I never watch TV... ever... adverts drive me crazy... I'd rather do without than watch adverts (I'm suborn as hell), so I download TV stuff... so I don't have to watch adverts, and so I can watch it when I want... how much do they really make per person from adverts ? it must be a tiny sum... if they wanted to charge 20p to download the same program, they'd make LOADS more money, and I'd be happy to pay for it for quick easy downloads... if it was 50p I'd download the stuff I really like and not bother with the stuff which is hit and miss

I go to the cinema all the time... probably 40+times a year... plus I like a drink and food... so I end up spending about £20 every time I go... but I'll only go if there's something decent to watch... something which looks promising....

95% of the films I download are crap... but I'll download them anyway on the off chance they're in the 5% which surprise me and are really good... I'll flick through them and either del them straight away or watch for 10min while I'm eating and can't do much else... 95% of the films I download don't make it past me finishing my tea

if I had the option to download as many films as I want, and then pay £5 for every one I liked (and nothing for the crap stuff)... I'd do it

ok... there's no way that would work in real life... so I'd have to pay for every film... so I'd only download stuff which looks good.. but I've already seen anything which looks good at the cinema.... so I wouldn't download anything

for games... there's no way I'm going to pay out £30 for the vast majority of games these days... they're nearly all just the same old crap re-hashed but with less thought put into them - I'd rather go without than feel ripped off


it's like anything... if someone gave you a free sandwich you wouldn't worry if it wasn't great... you can have a few bites and throw the rest away without giving it a second thought

but if you buy a sandwich, you want to enjoy it, you want it to be worth what you paid for it, you only have to buy a few crap sandwiches before you're put off sandwiches for life


when TV series/films/games can be available worldwide, for an instant download, with costs so low (probably less than 1p for each download?)

why don't the tv/film/game industries move with the time and start pumping this stuff out cheap ?  I wouldn't bother downloading anything from torrent sites if I could get it legit for a decent price

if you could sit at home, and pre-select films for download before they're available... and then auto download them as soon as they're available for £2 (before the torrent sites get a hold of them) TENS of  MILLIONS of people would do that, all around the world... overnight... for hardly any cost

the only people who won't pay are the people who are skint, so wouldn't pay anyway, and kids, who are normally skint too


I don't count downloading as 'stealing' because no one loses anything - I wouldn't have paid for it anyway

Your justifications are laughable. If you want to steal movies and tv shows and music, fair enough. You're the digital version of a shoplifter end of.

"Don't want a crap sandwich"... While your analogy is sh*t, I can understand some of the reasoning but ultimately that is what trailers are for, that is what reviews are for.

I loathe the fact that the industry (video) is slow to catch onto digital delivery of content, but it is in no means as bad as it once was.

Netflix covers me for UK and US (via my proxy) DVD released stuff I want to see.
Blink box offers cheap one time rentals of the latest releases.
Xbox live Zune provides digital content
iTunes provides digital content

Fact is, if like myself you actually now appreciate "well I could pirate it or I could just drop £10 on getting the DVD" when you already spanked £10 on a pint and a kebab the other night... The means to go legal are now finally getting to a point where it is a serious option.

The only folk who stay illegal are folk who actively want something for "nothing" and are willing to accept the risk, or are so comfortable in their ways that they've not explore the options out there for digital delivery of content, be it music, video or software.