I mean I go straight from TECHBLOG right into sweet foodstuffs. That's blogging gold. Blogold.
On to the meat of the post: Digital Piracy - or more specifically - issues with the RIAA.
There are few computer users who haven't downloaded something not quite legitimately. Whether it be because of price, availability, or downright fist pumping DEFIANCE, it has become a fairly commonplace issue with many computer savvy (or not so savvy) persons today.
If you've heard or not, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been fighting music pirates for quite some time. In fact, they just recently had a victory over previously mentioned P2P application Limewire. While I can't really say that I "support" piracy, I can't find myself taking a stance against it either, due to the alternatives.
From a personal aspect, I've been downloading for quite some time. I remember downloading some Eminem song in middle school on Napster. In a short time that went to hell, and I discovered Kazaa. That was alright for awhile, until it fell out of popularity, being replaced by Limewire. Eventually I learned about the concept of spyware, and moved on to uTorrent, where I still am today, with occasional fleeting relationships with Usenet and Rapidshare/Megaupload stuff. (Brotip: Kazaa/Limewire will complain loudly and refuse to run if you run a spyware removal program after installation.)
Of course, I could go out and buy the CD, or buy the album on iTunes, maybe even get a subscription to Rhapsody. Many (like myself) have taken these routes, and it works to a degree.
But what if I want a CD that's no longer in production?
What if it isn't on iTunes?
What if I *gasp* don't use an iPod?
What if I want to own the music, not pay ten bucks a month for permission to listen to it?
Of course, there are further alternatives, but none so mainstream that the average consumer would know about them.
On top of these reasons, I feel music should be made for the sake of making art, not for profit. One of my favorite bands, Bomb the Music Industry!, offers all of their albums online, free of charge. You can make a donation if you choose, but none is fine too. You can't even buy a shirt from them - if you want one, they encourage you to bring a plain shirt to a show where they provide stencils and spray paint. I can get really down with that.
A semi-related effort, is The Humble Indie Bundle. While the offer has ended, the bundle compiled several well known indie computer games, and offered the the games to downloaders for any donation (including $0), with said donation being split in any way the contributer chose between game developers and charity. If you're too lazy to click the link, I'll mention that contributers donated over $1,200,000. Of these donations, nearly $400,000 went to charity. Four-hundred-thousand-god-damn-dollars. (An interesting note, Linux [a free operating system, coded for free by volunteers] users contributed an average of ~$15, compared to $10 and $9 by Mac and Windows users respectively.) You'll forgive me if I don't sympathize with Lil' Wayne or Activision when they miss out on a possible sale.
If you are against piracy for whatever reason, I support you. Just don't do it for the wrong reasons. Don't someone else to pirate something for you to lessen your guilt. Remember who you could be siding with, and how further measures against piracy could seriously inhibit the future growth and use of the internet. Also, please be an informed consumer. Adobe Photoshop CS5 is $699 from Adobe's website. GIMP and Paint.net are free. Microsoft Office 2010 will be $199 for the barest-of-bones package. The OpenOffice Suite (you guessed it) is free.
Food for thought, I think.
