my 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