I am aware that some people download music files from the internet. I don’t do this myself, because of the time and hassle, and the risk of getting something other than what I wanted.
I may have to rethink this attitude, however. It is now official – buying music legitimately from the copyright owners can install trojan horses and spyware on your computer, potentially resulting in crashes and other malfunctioning. Much safer to get an MP3.
I already have a CD that I can play at work only because I made a copy of it at home – the original will not play on my work PC because of its copy protection. It’s now getting worse.
A few jobs back we bought a copy of Rational Rose – we never used it because we couldn’t get past the copy protection. It sat on a shelf for years. No repeat business there.
Illegal rip-off software, music and DVD is generally of higher quality than the legal stuff. A free MP3 is worth more than an iTunes download or an original CD, because it’s compatible with more hardware. A hacked game is worth more than the legal copy, because you don’t have to fuss with the license key.
They never learn.