Morals of Downloading

When downloading using protocols such as BitTorrent and other file sharing networks you should adopted some rules to ensure that what you're doing is justified and morally right.

Music

• If we didn’t download music we’d still be taping it of the radio anyway.
• Most artists don’t care about you downloading their music, they are usually quite flattered by it.
• If you like their music, go to their shows, buy their merchandise or just give them money directly.
• If you like the record label and the artists they sign, buy their record, go to their events or buy their merchandise. These companies are responsible for marketing the artists you like, without them you may never hear of some artists.
• People make music because they enjoy it, not because they want to get rich.
• However, nothing is quite like owning the record on vinyl or even CD.

TV Shows

• We watch your adverts and pay our license fees, does it matter if we watch it now or later?
• If we didn’t download or stream them, we’d just record them on VHS anyway…
• Even TV channels themselves are offering the ability to watch them online now.
• If you like something enough, buy it on DVD.

Films

• Watching a film at the cinema is no comparison to watching it at home.
• The less we go to the the cinema the more the prices for tickets will be, which SUCKS.
• If you like films, pay the price, support the company that creates them.
• If you do not pay for films, they will simply not make as many good films due to a lack of budget.
• If you like a film, buy it on DVD, don’t download it.
• Independent film companies don’t have the same funding as large corporations and therefore cannot make films on the same scale.

Software

• In many cases, software is created as a solution to a problem, if you don’t make it, someone else will.
• Would you find alternative open source or free software if you were forced to pay for the software you use?
• Would you develop (or invest in) your own solution if you were forced to pay?
• If you like the software and cannot live without it, pay for it.
• If you are happy to use open source or free alternatives, use them.

Books

• Reading an entire book on your computer screen? Seriously? That’s just dumb.
• So you’re really going to print that off and bind it? Just buy the damn book!
• Having said that there’s plenty of websites out there you can read for free instead. Try those.

Whatever the case, piracy is here to stay, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. We just have to live with it the best way we can.

Please note: I neither encourage nor disapprove of downloading illegally.