Pirated Software and MP3's

[Anonymous_poet]

But this is my point even if you share one book, cd at one time, How is it in the law when they are as you say losing out on money that way too

 

[Chad]

Sharing and copying are two different things. You are "sharing"

For example, if I lend a copy of Microsoft XP to a friend, that is not sharing because techincally they are using that CD to install an operating system that costs say $129. In this case, its stealing.

Just because copying is convenient does not make it ethically right in GOD's eyes. If you are a software engineer and produced software that cost you much time and money, effort, schooling, etc. (or even a little of each) - you are deserving payment for what you sell when you send it out to the market. How would you feel if you see people downloading this off file sharing networks? How would you feel if you see peopl demanding their right to "share" the software or allow friends to "copy" this stuff?

Now with music, a bit more complicated but really, not quite that complicated. Production costs money. Sure the gift of music is from GOD, but things cost money regardless. Therefore, downloading music or copying it from a friends paid CD is steal unethical. I struggle on this music thing myself unfortuantely but pray that GOD leads me away from such nonsense. I want freedom from any guilt and I am guilty for downloading music for free.

 

[Anonymous_poet]

Oh I am guilty of it too, its just I find it hard when it comes down to these things whats right and whats wrong,
Though I could sit here and argue the toss over whether a disc is worth £150 MS lol

I have shared...I am yet to feel guilty about it...
Whats everyones thoughts on Youtube dot com ?

 

[jculver]

Oh I am guilty of it too, its just I find it hard when it comes down to these things whats right and whats wrong,
Though I could sit here and argue the toss over whether a disc is worth £150 MS lol

I have shared...I am yet to feel guilty about it...
Whats everyones thoughts on Youtube dot com ?

I agree that it seems like a gray area sometimes. I mean your not TAKING anything, your just copying it. Also it's digital, most the time you don't even hold it in your hand!

To be 100% clear that it is not something a Christian should do, simply see the verses in 1 Peter that indicate we should be model citizens. If pirating is against the law, then we don't do it. (I will look this up shortly and add it to my post, sorry for the lame reference)

 

[CrazyForChrist]

Many bands allow their songs to be downloaded off the internet from others for free even though their cd's cost money in stores. So one would have to find out if the band cares or not.

 

[Chad]

You know brothers and sisters, we can always ask GOD to guide us :shade:

 

[BecuzHeLives]

Agree with you all,

I have deleted 2 Gig of Music. In this case downloaded music, I have decide to delete them all this past month. I also delete Nero 7.1 Premium because I downloaded it too. It really tough to say no to free stuff. Especially when you need it. I will delete Microsoft Office 2003 too. After that, I'm free of any illegal software or pirating music. I use to use my neighbor internet too, but I have also decide to take a stand and use my dial up internet rather my neighbor high speed internet.

I wish I have never know about free software or free music website. It's so hard to not downloading free stuff. But right is always right and we all must make a stand.

 

[trish1020]

i have a question

what is pirated software, could you explain please?
trish

 

[Faithful Son]

Hi Trish, Pirated software, or software piracy is when you use software in a way that does not comply with the lisence. Just like your drivers lisence, there are lisences when using software, like Windows or the music you listen to.

Sometimes people copy software from each other, or they download the software and use a "fix" to make the software work forever without actually buying it.

Reading this thread sheds new light on the subject for me, it's something I am guilty of, but it's between me and God. I need to seek a better means of aquiring software, although I don't even own my own personal computer, I need to start free and continue that way.

God bless
Much love
teraside

 

[Nigh]

You work hard all season long to bring your crop of sweet corn to market. You take several bushels of corn and pack them in your pick-up truck and head for the roadside stand your family has been selling at for 3 generations. There, you sell your corn to many people who enjoy it, and feel it is at a fair price.(or they wouldn't buy it)

After selling to one person you look up to notice that he takes your corn, puts it into a bag, shakes it, and now he has two ears of corn. He then gives the second ear to the next guy in line, who thanks him, and walks away without buying any of your corn. He does this again and again, until all the "customers" are gone and you realize that he was the last person to pay you for any corn. You are left with little money, and a lot of corn.

In the above story, you the farmer must feel cheated. The 'customer' must feel blessed to get free corn. And the 'copier' must feel useful / helpful to be able to provide corn to your friends for free. The question here is...is anyone 'hurt' by this story? Yes, the farmer of course, and wether you are the 'copier' or the 'customer' you must realize that the act of copying OR accepting pirated corn / software is hurting the farmer and therefore should not be done.

Jesus 'copied' fish and bread from the boys basket to feed the multitudes, but had there been a market nearby selling fish and bread, I'm pretty sure he would have taken up a collection, 'copied' the money and sent his disciples to market to buy enough to feed the people.

No 'farmer' was hurt in the making of this parable.

God bless,
Nigh

 

[Fellowservant]

Very good post brother Nigh:shade: Some would say when it comes to Bill Gates he doesn't need the money, but the word says let him who stole steal no more. This is pleasing in the eyes of the lord as well, see him bless you after the stealing stops:star:


Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.



God bless

 

[CrazyForChrist]

For all of you who have many programs pirated i have a solution. I connect to God through music. He wouldnt want me to lose a connection with Him. But he also doesnt like my stolen music. So i havnt deleted my music, but i have gone out and have slowly bought each cd that i have stolen from. Now i have the real music and deleted toe old but havnt lost out the whole time between buying the deletion of the music and buying the cd. So its almost like getting the music in advanced.

 

[BecuzHeLives]

yea I do the same things I just bought wow 2007 hits, and Wow #1 31 Christian Greatest hit....If you haven't bought these two Cd...You should do it...It's AWESOME!!!!!!!!I bought mine from Best Buy.....Simply, unbelievable with the music.

 

[Stridermax]

Confused and upset!

Just for refrance out of high school and I'm 19. Please read all of this post and reply it is much appreciated.

Soooo I know stealing is wrong and i know piracy goes agents so much in the pile but i have a major deli man and i do not believe I am going agents gods will.

I Love jesus with all y heart and always strive to do the right thing, but I have pirated lots of video editing software, but for the most part it is all needed. I come from a poor family. But i know god gave me the gift to create videos. so along the lines i have downloaded editing software. bout its not just cause i wanted it. I keep reading stuff like "don't look at CD's and DVDs online" ok well i don't but i need video editing software. Video editing software is like learning a whole new language and there are countless pieces of software required to make a hollywood production video. not just your free movie maker and or iMovie. Well software like this is something you must be rich to have a single well designed software can be priced at the lowest 500$ (if lucky) to 10,000$ or more. Not only that i free lance. and being 19 i just started but thats all i can do to get money. Jobs will not hire me because the economy, my is so bad and I lack experience. I have gone to more then 100 jobs and applied and nothing. Because editing movies has now been a source of income these programs are something I need to have. I got it cause to me God was allowing it to happen ... and I have never thought much of it until now.

 

[Stridermax]

Confused And Upset 2

So if anyone knows what is happening to the goverment regarding media fire, soap, and pipa then this makes a lot of sense. I posted a topic relating to these subjects and a friend, Well actually my ex-girlfriend (who is still an amazingly smart christian girl) wrote to me and I replied. Please read all of it and i'll give my two cents at the end.

Stephanie Gillispie: No, it's not robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. It is stealing songs and not giving the owners and artists their royalties. Similar to if you made a video that you could sell and people started ripping it off the internet for free.​

 

[Stridermax]

Confused And Upset 3

Me: I think people steal to much but at the same time editing software and tv shows are soooo overpriced its ridiculous on both sides (pirates and artists) there are some who just want more money. Its very depressing. I ha e tormented some editing software but thats only because 10,000 per program is far out of my league and actually most peoples if they brought down pieces and stopped trying to nickel and dime everyone things would gradually get better. Like Spotify. What they did was brilliant. They made everyone happy. Artists need to realizer that though its there music, video, or game they need to be realistic. Its for the people and making 1000000$ off of something is enough why shout and scream and demand more. There are 1000 cases where someone owns something and sends great people to jail and bankrupts them because they have a small snippet in a video. Honestly for me I don't care how much my stuff gets stolen as long as i make enough money to live off of. And if you check your statistics for my stuff to get stolen(Pirated!) it would have to be sooooo very polar. Now popular things gain money weather its free, pirated, or not (look at google). So as long as people know i made it and the like it enough to download i say awesome!!! do it i don't care. Also I'm not going to say that. all pirates are saints most suck and bring down the overall sales of artists work but as an artist and someone who's look into it Stephanie the artists are not suffering major losses. and the only people who say they are are the artists creators who already have tons of money . You can disagree with me i do't actually care all that much i just wanted to explain where I'm coming from. There are good people on oth sides and bad people on both sides sometimes its just thievery and other times it's robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. also just as another small fact. Piracy has traditionally been defined as the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted material for profit. If you ask anyone most people don't download (idk) Thor to resell it. They don't take others works to make profit they take it because of A.) there lazy and need to get jobs to view it or B.) they just don't have money and want to view it. but there not selling it. When they sell it i think it constitutes a direct black and white line but in this area i find its becoming more grey. Internet piracy that is. I mean again I'm all for support the creators but somewhere along the like supporting means them being filthey rich and loving it. They rarely do it for the art anymore just the sheer money. Like do you know why Americans have poor videos its cause most don't care anymore its not about the movie its about getting a movie out so they can all have more money. the faster a video is made and released the more $$ goes into there pockets. again i don't pirate movies and never will but that alone says a lot. p.s. and yes I'm ranting! its an important subject for me that most people free and right or wrong but its more then that I'm my opinion sooo much more its niter right or wrong in some cases. I a plod those with no money finding a way around the system to do things sometimes cheating is necessary. Its brilliant and shows the fighting spirt. The government i love as well t being america but where do you draw the line on both sides. wheres the difference between pirating of software because you need it and just doing it out of greed. M dad put his companies CS4 on his computer because his boss gave it to him. My dad needed it for for, but officially thats stealing from a company. so is that automatically wrong as well. At the same time when are Artists and creators just wanting so much money they can swim in it v.s. actually creating works of art for the people. I say its hard to distinguish. these day and for pirates and artists they mix these things together and don't even know it​

 

[Stridermax]

Confused And Upset 4

So I believe I have brought up soooo many good points and honestly at first i thought "well am I just justifying my actions" and then i thought no I'm not before i just didn't care but all that I wrote was true. For me I spend day and night editing and learning so that i can one day create amazing videos that show gods truth but i can't do that without these programs. The stuff i create is high end. My point is is it stealing if its really needed cause is i trashed all these programs it wouldn't just take oh those 4 paychecks to get it back it would take a lifetime. its worth 30,000$ dolores and companies again just price it that high because hollywood brings in ridiculous amounts of cash. JUST RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS. more then they need. So editing software can price ridiculously high by the creators cause they know money is practically spilling out of hollywood. Yes there good programs, but not 3,000$ for one copy good and another 500$ every update. I just don't have it. I have resined myself for buying all programs when I and if I can get the money but i can not obtain that kind of money unless I keep freelancing and making a name for myself as a filmmaker, director, and editor. 20,000 is just something i don't have and i can not wait forever to get these programs or it will be beyond too late.

sorry if it seems like I'm spamming this thread i'm really not theres just a lot to be said :/

 

[Brother Mike]

Really?

If God actually called you to make those videos, the tools you needed would have been provided without having to steal them.

Also, price has nothing to do with it, God has never gotten sticker shock providing all the tools to do ministry work.

I would recheck on what God actually wants you to do in life, or it could be your just jumping the gun.

Jesus is Lord.

 

[DraKKar]

I don't have any pirated mp3's or software as far as i'm aware. But i often watch music videos on Youtube uploaded by fans. Is that ok?

 

[Brother Mike]

Youtube.

Youtube paid 1.6 million or so to ASCAP and possibly money to BMI. This is a performance license for playing songs.

So, It cost Youtube money to allow users to post certain songs, which make it legal.

Some Songs Had no agreement and Youtube removes those songs if asked by the music company.

So anything you find on Youtube would be OK to listen to as Youtube is a upright company and business model.

You can Google Youtube ASCAP if you want more information about it.

Jesus is Lord.