piracy vs the big guns

The question is: Do You Support Piracy?

yes, i do! and here's why...

to me, piracy is a leverage against the monopoly of the big boys.
it levels the playing field not in terms of downloading the song or movies online but in a sense that it forces the big guns to rethink about their pricing and consumer relation strategy.

for too long, they have bullied us with their ridiculous pricing and unresonable demands. piracy forces them to change tack and be more consumer-centric. yes, the big boys may cry about losing huge amount of earnings etc but come on, dun take me for a fool. the figures they state are all estimates. nobody can verify so it's your words against mine. about the lose of revenue thus reducing the investment of new acts or singers etc. it's a load of bull. if the fella's good, the market forces will drive the companies to compete to sign the fella.

on an lighter note, piracy actually increases the sales of playstation 2 and xbox. why do you think so many singaporean buy those two and not nintendo ds? it's because the game is cheap and good to play. if xbox 360 comes out and there's no pirated games for it, the console sales will drop cause ppl can't afford to buy the expensive games and if PS3 comes out with the mod version while xbox 360 does not, PS3 will definitely outstrip microsoft not matter how much they spent on marketing, this i dare to say. if PSP allows users to play mod games instead of the freaking umd, it'll fly off the shelf. it's a fact really, singaporeans seldom buy game review mags as mostly are imported from the states thus cost a min of $12-$20. so imagine i spent my $70 on a game that sucks big time, i'll be cursing and swearing but what happens to the kid who save up for it? i actually think of a strategy for it, either come out with a compilation of demo disk like in pc but not through game review mag (too ex) or allow pirated games to build the critical mass of xbox 360 owners first then cut off the supply so you'll have many ppl with console but not the pirate games. ~evil~

why i buy pirated dvds
1) some movies are not worth the cinema price so it's straight to dvd but since dvd is more expensive then a movie ticket, it gotta be pirated.
2) they do not allow us to burn a spare copy incase the original is scratched
3) the regional coding is a bloody inconvenience to consumers
4) the bloody censors who does not have common sense
5) it's available much faster in the black market than thru Poh Kim
6) but you can't deny the price factors

with all said, i do buy original dvd and games. i've bought a pirated Ratchet and Clank 2 but i got myself a original one even after i've completed the pirated version cause i find that it's a very good game and not supporting it an injustice. all the hits like final fantasy and metal gear series are all original but tell me the truth, are you gonna spent $90 for an original star wars monopoly game? come on let's face the truth. i've gotten the original LOTR and matrix special edition movies cause it's worth every penny of it and there's alot more

so do i download songs and movies? songs, i used to do so but not anymore. movies? nah, imagine i got to wait for a few days to finish download the whole movie, it's too much of a hassle...

so the fact is, dun expect me to pay top dollar for crap games, movies etc.

we're like electric current, we go to the cheapest source, it's less resistance
unless there's a gahment diode to force us oneway