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Comment by forrestthewoods | Hacker News Reader

I understand what you are trying to say, but strongly disagree. iTunes is ridiculously easy to setup and use. Paying cable + DVR box is ridiculously easy to pay for and use. People are just incredibly selfish and feel entitled to free stuff.

A few select services (Netflix, Steam, uhh that's it?) are more convenient than piracy. Piracy rate on a $1 iTunes games is often 50 to 90 percent. It doesn't get any cheaper or easier than that.

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You see, I live in country where iTMS is available since maybe two months (Poland). Since then, I've spent some money on music - maybe $20 or $30, but I don't think that really matters - and that was the first time I actually paid for music. Before that, there were few times that local start-ups tried to fill this gap in this market, but they inevitably failed - mainly because they content sucked, but also because it was inconvenient as hell.

You see - that thing is happening all over again with TV Shows and Movies. As far as I know, there's no legal way for me to watch latest episodes of shows that I like. There just isn't. I would be happy to pay $5 or maybe even $10/month and be able to stream HD episodes to my PS3, without having to deal with eztv.it, RSS feeds, rtorrent and all this crap. I really would. But I can't. I simply can't.

Now, for movies it's another thing - I think I can buy/rent movies from iTunes, but they're just too expensive, compared to what movie ticket or DVD costs - Apple (or any digital-media store that I know of, for that matter) doesn't adjust their prices to different markets (hell, they even show prices in Euros, which we don't use!) - and unless something magical happens to our economy, I doubt it'll ever take off over here.

If something is too expensive for you to afford that does not mean you are entitled to receive it for free.

Unless it's digital.

I agree, but that also means you can't consider that as lost money for the legal offer.

Nothing in the original article, my reply, or this entire sub-thread has made that claim or attempted to argue anything of the sort.

Well, except there's lots of content not available on iTunes and friends or only with ridiculous delays. I'm just not waiting 6 months for a movie for no obvious reason when the torrent is a mouse-click away.

When there's no kindle-compatible version of an ebook I want (which sadly happens more often than not) then I grab the torrent.

It may be ignorant and "illegal", but I consider it voting with my wallet.

I can't say I feel bad about it because I happily do buy the content when and if they let me. My first stop for media is always iTunes, amazon and various local eBook sites, and I'm glad every time I don't have to resort to searching a torrent.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with that "shopping strategy".

So you're only willing to spend money when it's convenient. How noble of you. That's not voting with your wallet. That's called being selfish.

Cry me a river, I still call it voting with my wallet.

"I'm just not waiting 6 months for a movie for no obvious reason when the torrent is a mouse-click away."

You could also try really hard and find better things to do with your time. It's just a movie, not dialysis. You won't die if you don't see it RIGHT NOW.

I'm not convinced. Are you sure about that not dying part?

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