I love music and I used to download music a lot. Since I can use Spotify and listen for as much music as I want for less than 10$ a month, I don't see the need to pirate music.

I am still waiting for that to happen with films and series.

Not even close. The user experience is good, but you can't go to netflix and search for a random film because 90% of the time it won't be there.

This is where popcorn time comes in, every time I search there I get results.

I'd happy pay for a better service if they media companies got their asses in gear and had a common platform, but they're actually going in the opposite direction - I'm certainly not going to pay "just $10 a month" 5 different times on 5 different platforms that I'll have to trawl through and still not have a guarantee of finding a result.

I usually search on Netflix, if it's not there, I go to Popcorn. The experience on Netflix is amazing and I would happily pay more for a larger catalogue.

I would also pay $10/month for all music content ever created. And another $10/month for all TV content ever created. And another $10/month for all movie content ever created. Go ahead and add $10/month for all video game content ever created as well.

It turns out this isn't viable business model. Darn.

Except that Netflix has a really bad selection of movies and it's getting worse and worse as they seem to be focusing all their money and energy on producing their own content. I'm hoping someone can come along and do Netflix right now that Netflix has decided to go all HBO on us.

You seem to imply that Netflix gets to pick ad libitum what movies and shows they offer, while in reality they have to negotiate with the studios. From the point of view of the studios, a legal platform where content can be freely streamed for a modest amount of money, leading further down the road to nobody wanting to pay much money for expensive shows probably does not sound much more thrilling that fewer sales at a higher price point in exchange for more piracy.

Who have less than 2000 combined TV show episodes and movies in my country (Germany), and only launched here 4 months ago.

"People, in general, pirate because it's free and really, really easy."

So's smashing car windows, but most people resist the temptation to do it.

It's actually not that easy to pirate stuff. You have to make your way through a minefield of malware and seo spam and figure out what sources are trustworthy. Compared to that just signing up for Netflix seems pretty simple.

Or because your opinion that iTunes is "easy to use" and "extremely high quality" is just that - an opinion - and is not an opinion which is universally shared among all people or even a significant majority of them (myself included).

Now, with that said, between Amazon Prime and Netflix I haven't found many reasons to pirate things, but right now that involves jumping back and forth between two different marketplaces because of the fragmented content. This is where Popcorn Time (for example) reportedly shines, and thus might be a compelling reason to at least investigate that particular avenue.

High quality isn't really an opinion. Their encoding is fantastic. Better than blu-ray re-encodes which were the primary torrent source just a few years ago. They're encoding off raw source so it's exceptionally good.

Easy to use is pretty factual in a relative sense. A mere 15 years ago you had to drive out to store to rent a disc and then take it back. Those asshole rental stores made all their money through exorbitant late charges. There are perhaps user interfaces which are easier to use than iTunes. But with an AppleTV almost everything that is pirated can be found, bought, and streaming in under 3 minutes.

Here's the process for computer:

1) Start menu 2) Type iTunes 3) Hit enter. 4) Click iTunes Store 5) Click search 6) Type 'Interstellar' 7) Click 'Interstellar' 8) Click rent

I don't feel like renting this movie right now because I've already seen it. But from this point forward there's probably a confirm dialogue or two and then it starts streaming. The whole process takes about 15 seconds. On an AppleTV it might take 3 minutes due it being a little slower processor and inputting text being a little slow on the remote.

It's literally never been easier in the history of time to legally acquire content. Even if piracy is slightly easier or a slightly better user experience that's not sufficient justification. Just admit you're a selfish twat and would rather pirate content than pay for it. It's fine. You aren't alone. Tons of people pirate content. Maybe even most people. Just call a spade a spade and say you'd rather get it for free than spend a few bucks.

While your tone is - let's say - 'direct', I don't disagree that people are lazy and maybe selfish if they pirate content.

It's not like we're talking 'pirating bread to survive' here. We could just ignore the content if it's inaccessible. Maybe we should? I'm a selfish twat, I guess - at least at times.

Reasons for me:

- TV shows, undubbed

- Movies, undubbed

- 'Legacy' stuff that isn't on air anymore/harder to find

Now, back to your solution though:

- Where's the iTunes Linux client? There seem to be alternatives, but .. would it be the same 'great' experience?

- Given that I see no use in an AppleTV: Can I stream stuff from a Raspberry PI? [1] The reason that I cannot consume the legal content that I might be allowed to was the reason for me to cancel my Amazon subscription. Yay, legal content. Oh no, unfortunately the service sucks unless you buy the hardware that works with it.

I just wanted to complain about content providers generally considering the German market too stupid to listen to the original - but it seems iTunes gets this right at least. Although people complain now that you purchase/rent a specific language. If I pick a kids series and want to show it to my son I'd go with German. But I might enjoy hearing the english version: Purchase it twice?

So - no, iTunes doesn't seem to be that polished solution either. Maybe it's the best solution right now. But it heavily caters to people that go all-in, from what I can tell from the outside. Buy an iPhone, an AppleTV, probably go with a machine that runs OS X so that iTunes itself doesn't look completely out of whack and you're all set up?

(I expect that you consider this as just making up excuses. Maybe I am. We're back to square one: I'm lazy on the couch, called it a day, want to relax. The easiest solution wins. And I haven't even tried Popcorn Time. Yet.)

1: I only briefly checked and it seems that doesn't work. At least I've only seen 'AirPlay on a PI and then sit in front of your laptop and stream content from there, maybe' non-solutions

>It's literally never been easier in the history of time to legally acquire content.

So? It's never been easier to 'illegally' acquire it as well.

It's interesting that you're happy to call users selfish twats but you don't seem to bat an eye at the exorbitant prices on iTunes to rent things. Why is it that redbox is like 1/4th of the price and that involves a physical disc?

> High quality isn't really an opinion. Their encoding is fantastic. Better than blu-ray re-encodes which were the primary torrent source just a few years ago. They're encoding off raw source so it's exceptionally good.

I'm sure one could crank out better quality with Handbrake or raw FFMPEG when used correctly.

> Easy to use is pretty factual in a relative sense. A mere 15 years ago you had to drive out to store to rent a disc and then take it back. Those asshole rental stores made all their money through exorbitant late charges.

By that logic, then, literally every streaming service - including the shitty ones like HBO Go - is "easy to use".

> 1) Start menu 2) Type iTunes 3) Hit enter. 4) Click iTunes Store 5) Click search 6) Type 'Interstellar' 7) Click 'Interstellar' 8) Click rent

That's nice, but now we're going into the desktop client, which further proves my point. I was more or less giving you the benefit of the doubt by assuming you were referring to the Apple TV variety (since I don't own an Apple TV), but now that it's clear that you're referring to the desktop client, I can now speak from experience that the iTunes you're referring to is easily among the shittiest media players ever made. It makes Windows Media Player look like a timeless masterpiece in comparison. Slow and buggy (especially on Windows), and a user interface that looks like it was designed in 1995 (probably because it was designed in 1995) and never improved.

I'd certainly rather get it for free than have to pay to use that pile of bovine manure.

Regardless of your motivation it's stealing.

Actually, it's infringing.

And yes, that distinction does matter. When somebody infringes, nothing is lost. The opportunity for a sale still exists, the property is still owned by those who own it, and so forth.

For there to be theft, there needs to be some meaningful loss on the part of the person claiming theft.

We have the word infringe for this case, because nothing is actually lost. What actually happens is somebody does something they aren't supposed to do, which is a different thing, and not inclusive enough to be theft.

Now, citing theft is nice, because it's easy, clear and very negative. People identify with theft easily, and that's potent. Advocacy centered on theft is understandable, but it does as much harm as it does good.

Why?

Because theft and the direct equating to lost sales does not reflect the realities in play. Where we make law on that basis, we tend to get crappy law that is ineffective.

People see stuff like $150K / infringing act and or proposed jail time, and it's laughable compared to something like rape or real theft that carries far lighter penalties, and that actually is theft as opposed to infringement.

I submit we really can't make progress on this without also entertaining a rational discussion, and tossing theft in here really isn't rational. It's too coarse and inaccurate.

Infringement is wrong. And it's a harder discussion, but a necessary one. Until average people get it, and understand all of it, we will continue to see a big disconnect in both the discussion and law, leaving the door open for more piracy and fewer solutions that can compete with it, etc...