Frankly I’m not sure how I’d react if I contributed to a product that was pirated — frankly I’ve never worked on anything anyone was that interested in. I like to think I’d consider it just the nature of business at this point, and try to focus on the people who WERE paying for it.

I spent several years on and off as a touring musician and I’ll never figure out where people get ideas like this. There were many, many nights where the sales of as few as two or three CDs at a show meant the difference between sleeping in the van and getting a real hotel room, for example. If it is in fact the case that recorded music is now just some sort of a promotional tool, it is this way precisely because people will no longer purchase it. It’s not “brilliant marketing”; it’s a state of affairs that exists whether musicians like it or not.

[...] also looks at a bit of file-sharing hypocrisy, while Matt Blind offers a lengthy examination of digital piracy [...]

>>I’ve occasionally downloaded a movie I own on DVD just because it’s easier to put it on computer or iPod that way. (And I’m not going to pay again just to use a different screen.)<<

It'd probably be easier/less risk of some nasty lawsuit letter from the MPAA/RIAA to also rip the DVD to your computer using a program like Handbrake (Mac, Windows and Linux versions available).

Robin, I find your distinction a very fine line to draw, and I suspect it won’t work for many users, who just want what they want the way they want it (which often includes “cheaper than it’s being offered for legitimately”). It’s a tough subject, all the more so when your work is directly involved. Thanks for coming by and clarifying.

As to your hypothesis on Robin’s hypocrisy and human nature in general I’ll leave that to you all to argue among yourselves. I myself have never downloaded anything for free or without permission. However,didn’t Bougie just ask readers of his journal for some friendly advice and there own views on this subject? So, in my opinion, it would have been better for you to have offered your own views on the matter there rather than “getting outraged in public” yourself. Two wrongs don’t make one right and that applies to illegal downloading as well.

*Torrenting something that is readily and easily available from the creator (who has no other means of making a profit outside of selling it) is a dick move — no matter how you justify it.

*Torrenting something that has, for all intents and purposes, been abandoned to the sands of time and is not readily available in any home format is a fantastic way to keep that thing alive and enjoyed by a whole new generation.

Saying I’m hypocritical for standing up for one while decrying the other seems kinda unfair to me.

Alex, I think you’re right about the portability. Even when something is online or digital, people want it convenient for them without restriction. I’ve occasionally downloaded a movie I own on DVD just because it’s easier to put it on computer or iPod that way. (And I’m not going to pay again just to use a different screen.)

Yup, that’s why it cannot be rationalized.

I can’t wait for the day 3D printers become the norm. Then everything would become “intellectual property.” Oh, the mess we’ll have then…

(I kid, I kid)

The ePub versions will be fairly easy to rip; the iPhone app versions a little harder.

Ironically: you know that the most-torrented non-superhero comic is… Freakangels? You know, THE FREE COMIC.

People want things in a portable electronic format. And print comics are still hard to find – many of us don’t live near an LCS or if we do, it doesn’t handle indie comics.