The “I can’t get it elsewhere” is the most important one though. It’s the biggest reason I would miss BitTorrent if it ever got shut down completely.

I also get a little music – the majority of which I have on cassette tape (remember those) in a box under my bed or it’s one song from an album that I don’t like the rest of.

I also grab movies occasionally… usually older movies that aren’t available on dvd or are hard to find. Also, when there’s a month or more between airing in the US and airing here, sometime I’ll watch a cam release and many times see the movie again when it is released. I may even get the dvd… depends how good the movie is. I’ll also grab a movie now and then out of curiosity – something I’d never be caught dead going to see in a theatre and would be hesitant to rent.

who could POSSIBLY have guessed?

ROFL

I use bittorrent to share legal content. I use bittorrent to engage in guerilla price adjustment. I use bittorrent to discover new artists. I use bittorrent to acquire music that is no longer in print. I use bittorrent to acquire music from foreign artists since labels can’t grasp the simple idea of doing away with regional borders for commerce.

In short, I use bittorrent for all of those reasons an more.

I very rarely download anything via BitTorrent if I’m brutally honest, but when it comes to the push, it’s TV shows (non-BBC mostly, however, with BBC shows I feel I have the right as I have paid for it already via the Licence Fee). Other channels are supported by advertising, so again the show has already been paid for.

I also download the odd obscure movie, and very very rarely music.

Most of my entertainment is swapped with friends who have external HDs. It’s no different to swapping mix tapes with friends in the ’80s (other than getting more than 90 minutes on one tape).

I seriously doubt that any payment model with ever work with digital media.

the distriction of these 4 categories is not correct. many downloads begin because they are free so we can download more…but some diamonds among the garbages are going to be bought. moreover you would like to be updated with the rest of the world not not to be detained by your national television in order to see Prison Break for example 5 years later.

In conclusion i believe this poll is not fully depict the actual usage of torrents

thanx..

p.s i didn’t vote anything .

Comment to that: Well, maybe they don’t like your books.. Good thing they could try them then.. :P And how do you think your royalty statements would be affected if everybody who liked your work would buy it? (Also, who are you? Maybe someone here would like your work..)

Personally, I download books just to try them.. Reading from Word or .pdf is a bitch :P

I download music because it’s free: I think the artist deserves the money, not some dude in a suit. That’s why I go to concerts. Also, the general idea of DRM scared me off paying for music the way iTunes arranged it. (Remember the Gears of War DRM problem? Wouldn’t want that to happen to my music)

As for games: I download them even if I have the game itself, as I have no cd/dvd-drive in my laptop. I sometimes download a game if I’m not sure I like it, and then play one or two levels.

Movies I download because it’s easy, and the closest cinema here is half an hour by bus, doesn’t play the movies I like, and sucks in general. If I liked a movie I try to rent it though.

I don’t download software from BitTorrent too much, but if I do it’s mostly freeware or just to try.

And where is the option; “Because it gives me an excuse to wear an eyepatch and talk like a pirate! Aaarr, shiver me timberrrs!”? ;)

Because the person(s) writing the review(s) all have their favorites, tendencies and whatnot.

No person is the same!

And since a demo often is only released once a game has been out a couple weeks/months, I for one have a) no patience, b) want to try the game before I buy it.

If a game is awesome I’ll most definitely buy it, if it’s junk (which most of them often are, very rarely is there an awesome title!) it’s getting deleted.

I won’t waste my space by burning the iso’s, not worth it.

So dear Publishers / Developers, do us all a favor, release a goddamned demo BEFORE the game is released or at least simultaneously with the game!

Pirate bay had me up and running in 10 minutes with no 3rd-party adverts.

I’ve also documented my frustration with “legit” downloading in my blog (http://web.me.com/localoptimum/pb/Blog/Entries/2009/2/27_Why_Pirate_Bay_succeeds.html)

someother stuff like at cinemageddon is awesome hard to find movie gems

I also use BT for games that I can’t get any longer without x3 cost, spending months locating it somewhere I can’t get to without a car, or just isn’t being sold any longer.

Basically, I refuse to wait to see the latest TV series just because I don’t live in the US/Canada.

Maybe I’m killing the recorded music industry, but I find it hard to justify buying a new CD when there are used copies in good condition for cheap. It seems ecologically wasteful to insist on a new copy. I do buy new when buying used doesn’t save me a significant amount of money, i.e. because there’s not really a surplus of produced copies yet.

And, I often like an album a lot, but still not enough to own a physical copy. These things take up space, what can I say.

Once in a while, I’ll pay for downloads, if the quality is good, the price is right, and I can do it from the web without installing any software. Rarely are all of these the case though. Often, album downloads are priced almost as much as the CD, which is ridiculous. They should also come with full artwork, but usually they don’t.

1) I have a large dvd collection, and when I want to watch a movie, I don’t want to have to sift through it, take the disk out, and put it in a DVD player, I’d rather just go to a folder on my hard drive, and play movies I legally own.
2) Out of Print Games – There are numerous out of print video games that are nowhere to be found today, except at over-inflated prices on ebay or other online marketplaces where the company that made the game gets none of the money anyways.
3) Japanese games – Some games, just aren’t brought to my home country, so I have to download a fan-translated version.
4) Games that I’ve bought but misplaced/damaged CD – No, I will not buy them again just because a disc cracked.
5) Because sometimes, re-playing a console game on a computer with an emulator makes the annoying parts less annoying(through save states and frame skipping)