Pirating is something most internet
users do without thinking. This falls under the category of music files or even
specific software, this will cost some amount of money to obtain, but we do not
want to spend our hard earned money so we look for alternative methods.
Although this may seem like the easiest and most sensible option, there are
several disadvantages of pirating that I would like to note. First of all, if
you purchase a piece of software, in most cases it will come with lifetime free
updates. When pirating software, there is no guarantee. It is possible that you
may end up with older outdated software that is unresponsive, crashes
frequently, and that you cannot upgrade. It is even possible that you may not
end up with any software at all. In the worst case, you could end up
downloading a virus or corrupted file, this happens quite often. In addition,
you can be arrested and charged for essentially stealing music of files without
paying.
One
obvious flaw in pirating music is the fact that it is illegal. Even for the
function of education, downloading audio files and listening to them is against
the law. The copyright law is an iffy subject when it comes to music making and
production, however if you are integrating it with software and not just the
music, it becomes quite difficult. We must not forget that software companies
depend upon our business to stay in function, and if we stop buying their
products, they will be less and less able to serve us with those products as
well as new products and product updates. One important thing to keep in mind
is that some programs may have student offers. For example, Sibelius offers a
student package where you can purchase a piece of software as a group, and
everyone in the group gets one download. This seems like an excellent way of
spreading the wealth to students who only need one copy of the program. It also
makes it very affordable
If you consider taking a part in piracy,
you now have a little bit of information of how it could backfire on you. Yes,
pirating music and files makes things more accessible and is cheaper however
you need to be carefl. Or, you may be overly adventurous and decide that piracy
is the best option. Piracy has its pros and cons, my hope is you consider these
pros and cons and make an educated decision before pirating music and especially
files.
This post reminded me of when I was in high school, and programs such as Napster, Kazza, and Lime Wire were used to download music. At this time I was unaware of what pirating was and that downloading music for free was illegal. My computers would eventually crash because of viruses that infiltrated my computer when downloading the music.Maybe if I was informed in school I would have known the risks, and it would have saved me a few computers!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we live in an age where pirating music is illegal. I know of a couple of bands that let people buy their music for whatever price they wish to pay, which I think is the best way to bypass the whole system. Regardless of laws, people want things for free and they are going to get them, so why not bypass the whole system by letting people chose what they want to pay. Ultimately, the music being created should be a vehicle for the creation of music, not money. In any case, educating students on the dangers of pirating could definitely be useful in the classroom. But I do not think your principal would agree :)
ReplyDeleteI can not say that I have not done it! My first experience with it was through LimeWire years ago. I had forgotten all about it and this blog just reminded me of all the music I had downloaded on there. At the time I did not really understand the concept of piracy until I started hearing stories of people getting caught on there. I agree with Shannon that if teachers informed students of the risks that they could help prevent them from getting in trouble.
ReplyDeletePirating is definitely an interesting subject, while it has become a giant grey area. Technically, pirating is stealing, which is obviously illegal activity. But in terms of music, times have changed. Bands no longer rely on record sales as their means of profit, instead album tours and high price concert tickets are the biggest way bands will gross a profit. While buying music from iTunes is the "ethical" thing to do, giant companies such as iTunes only give bands a very minuscule percentage of the profit they make from consumers like us purchasing music. Not to mention, many artists do not condemn those who pirate their music, while at the end of the day, it is more exposure to their music. While I do not pirate music myself, I can see how this wide gap between musician and listener in terms of purchasing music could be a reason as to why people would be tempted to do such a thing. How does one "own" anything on the internet, which is more or less a digital free for all?
ReplyDelete