You've raised some valid points, but I'd like to respond simply: I (personally) pirate most things that I pirate because a lot of these things are not comfortably affordable to me. I wish I could buy all the books that I want, the entertainment to keep wife & me (and the kids) happy and up with current culture such that I have a proper sense of what everybody's like these days so I can communicate with them easily, buy the design and video editing software for my startup, - and then have all these things work in my own terms without being a total pain in my a-hole. (mp3 works on my phone... but not on my wife's? Fuck that, I like being able to share songs I like).

But... I can't really do all of this, I don't have the money. If and when I have the means to do this comfortably, I'll do it! Until then, this is the way I'm gonna go. And the thing is, if I was not pirating all of these things and simply abstaining from enjoying these costly goods, it still would all be the same to the entity I'd buy it from -- because from their view it's a) simply not consume, or b) consume -- and for the time being at least contribute to fulfilling a network effects popularity of the thing, or at least get interested enough to be a willing buyer sometime in the future, (see Adobe and Microsoft leaked documents expressing their being okay people pirating their products. I'm sure you understand that Adobe and MS would indeed that you rather use a pirated copy of Windows/Photoshop than to go with Linux (or GIMP)... because this way you at least get hooked/familiarized with it, and might buy it legally when you're a business owner or something).