More people do this than I thought.....

[fabi]

You know that isn't true. My logic isn't my logic it's 'yours' (refering to previous posts). According to that logic, people don't have to use warez, they can use freeware instead. I.e. people don't have to use commercial products (uncracked warez if you like ), but can instead use something free instead.

Sure the cases you mentioned do apply, but a lot of people would have to buy, if it weren't for free alternatives - regardless of whether those be legal or illegal. (the 'regardless' is not regarding the moral regards...) And there are quite a few freeware synths and effects that are better than a lot of commercial products. (synth 1 and Crystal of course come to mind).

scenario 1: warez or payware - not paying hurts developers

scenario 2: warez, freeware or payware - not paying still hurts developers (at least if scenario 1 can be assumed to be true, which I just take for granted here, because many other do)

regards,
fabi

[bastien]

simple,librarys keep records of who takes out which books,so over time john grishams publishing company receive a council paid commission for books.similar to the way radios pay for music they play.

Course we're still lucky enough to have publically funded libraries...

[vtx]

simple,librarys keep records of who takes out which books,so over time john grishams publishing company receive a council paid commission for books.similar to the way radios pay for music they play.

Course we're still lucky enough to have publically funded libraries...

pay at the door or pay through property taxes,,but it ain't free,,
no one was going to our library(insert joke here) so the rich got together and figured out how much my property taxes had to go up to keep the doors open..

[UltraJv]

Copy protection encourages cracking! The better the protection (Syncrosoft and PACE) the more bravado the crack teams will feel from cracking it. Protection never stops copying, it merely delays the product being cracked, which I think is the aim. Both those methods of protection mentioned cause more problems to the end users. Some people avoid any PACE protected software attall. Others buy the products but use the cracked software as its safer to thier pc!

[bitcrusher]

This subject comes up a fair amount, and I think theres one side not touched on here - the developer perspective...

My first C++ plugin, Lucifer VST (which I spent a good deal of time on) has sold 6 copies for OSX.

(Blame me perhaps, it was not very optimised until the upcoming version.) but still ok, 6 copies.. $380 or so in my pocket for several MONTHS of work.

I've found 3 (!!) separate cracks. From 6 sales...

so, point being really - lack of people supporting developers results in lack of unique products to choose from.

[fabi]

This subject comes up a fair amount, and I think theres one side not touched on here - the developer perspective...

My first C++ plugin, Lucifer VST (which I spent a good deal of time on) has sold 6 copies for OSX.

(Blame me perhaps, it was not very optimised until the upcoming version.) but still ok, 6 copies.. $380 or so in my pocket for several MONTHS of work.

I've found 3 (!!) separate cracks. From 6 sales...

so, point being really - lack of people supporting developers results in lack of unique products to choose from.

DAMN, that does sound pretty bad. My condolences. No, seriously... I would maybe buy more software if I had the money, but the way things are now I mostly use freeware, apart from my Tracktion NFR (which is some kind of hybrid between the two, I guess ), FL Studio and iZotope Ozone (which I got for the reduced price due to 'owning' Vinyl)...

[foosnark]

It's not the prices -- it's not just $500 graphics software and $200 VSTs that people crack. People pirate video games, music that you can legally buy for $.99 a track, and movies that you can check out for free at a local library. No price is low enough to discourage stealing.

[cptgone]

I think you're right koolkeys.

But I don't blame people who really can't afford the software they need if there is no free alternative.

Take the average African man, how is he ever going to pay for Cubase? OK, he could get eXT, but that would still be quite expensive, and no matter how great eXT is, it doens't offer all the functionality of Cubase...

Concerning the people who can afford software: many are so used to illegal software they think of buying software as an insane thing to do. Most will even dismiss their own responsibility because of the 'fact' "everyone does it so my theft doesn't make a difference". OTOH, many will admit to the fact stealing is immoral if you get them to think it through.

So there's:
- people who haven't given buying software much thought (yet),
- people that think of buying as senseless,
- people who steal what they can,
- people who are too lazy / ignorant / scared to DL stuff,
- people who want to pay for the extra stability and upgrades of a real license,
- people who refuse to steal (that piece of) software.

I think there's only one uncurable category of crackusers in this list.


I would feel bad about stealing music software and about buying MS software
My DAW is legit

[hitman8081]

as much as i am against warez and i OWN ALL my software. i must defend warez users for several reasons. software whether when it comes it down to it IS EXPENSIVE. and for someone living in a third world or very poor country they couldnt afford the cheapest software let alone a host.

buying a host would be like a years worth of salary if they put all the money they made in a year.they still might not have enough to buy a host. then they have to buy vstis and maybe fx too. you see where im going with this.

everybody deserves to enjoy the hobby of producing and for those that REALY cant afford it i/we should be understanding not liking but understanding of there predicament. however for those that steal software because they want to have the best or the newest software we should be very digusted. these warez loosers serch download and aquire warez like there going out of style to them its a game and an achivement when to get the newst synth or fx. i know all about this way of life as i used to live it always having to have the newest and latest synths and fx released.

i knew all the crack groups by heart and to me it was a proud thing when i aquired the newest release. so to these kind of people like i used to be we should have nothing but contempt and anger at what there doing but to those who realy CANT and NEVER COULD afford it i am very understanding as there lifes are hard enough and i know this argument has been raised to death but they could never afford the software anyway so even though they ARE STEALING the developers would never know or mis there buisiness because they never would have got there buisiness in the first place. however to those who have the money and just want to steal then the deelopers are loosing money because these are customers that if warez were not available on the internet and there were no crack groups and you only could get the software by buying it they would have otherwise paid for the software and given the developers more buiness as they couldnt get it any other way. also i raise an imporant argument i know you peeps say theres freeware for everything but you must remember that newbies are not at the skill level to use somthing like a sequencer like crystal or music software like buzz or psycho i know because after i decided i wanted to go legit i TRIED to use freware software and i couldnt make heads or tails of it. in fact i was completely lost and no amount of support or help wwas going to change this.

so i was forced to go back to warez till i could afford my first host orion pro . so there are several reasons why people use warez some people just dont want to pay for there software choosing to steal it instead spending the money elsewhere. while others cases are alot more benevolent. eaither way warez are wrong and stealing is stealing but at least you know why people do it.

[uncadave]

the post title really sucked me in....thought it was about nosepikin' or something.

i used to use a bit of cracked software....did it after i bought absynth based on the demo, and was disappointed because absynth actually takes talent and patience to use. i'm not so sure it's always immoral....i have bought all the refx stuff, for example, based on the slayer crack i had. when i purchased slayer 2, the customer support was so good that i can't imagine not buying the next product out, i have everything except plastix.
i know alot of guys disagree with this, but i think that if you have alot of cracks, like really got yourself loaded up, alot of that stuff you never use and alot of that stuff you wouldn't have bought anyways, so no loss. on the other hand, it's really not much different than cutting 'the club' with a pair of bolt cutters to steal a car. you can't justify a stolen bentley because you don't drive it much and based on the demo, you wouldn't have bought it anyways. stealing is stealing and we all know when we do it, but i gotta say that quite a few people have probably spent quite a bunch of money after starting out on cracks. i'm a machinist and overhaul steam turbines for a living. this is just a hobby for me but i've spent probably....maybe $2500 on hardware....that's wrong, counting drums, ks4, kebds, etc? more like 5k, and easily 5k on software, all of that based on screwing around with a cracked absynth standalone with no host. now ni has me for maybe $1500 counting absynth, abs2 update, Komplete2, and now komplete care? i don't think they lost out.

so how do you like that...a 500 word disertation justifying theft.

[Lunch Money]

hitman,

Surely someone who can afford a PC capable of being a DAW can afford $39 for eXT? I know what you're saying, but at the end, there's no reason for anyone to 'need' any of the expensive software for a hobby. And yes, we all deserve hobbies, but nothing entitles us to them.

I'd love to have the hobby of horseback riding; however, I cannot afford a horse, and nor can I afford the training. Hence, it's a hobby that's denied to me. I can think of many other hobbies that I can't pursue for a variety of reasons.

Whether it's harsh or not, if you can't afford this hobby, then it's not the one for you. And if music is truly your passion, you'll be able to make it without the help of expensive software.

Greg

[King of Snake]

I admit I have quite a bit of cracked software on my machine, but it's all graphics stuff. I'm currently a student in audiovisual design so I work with all the Adobe stuff a lot, which I can't afford to buy right now. Obviously as soon as I'm gonna do commercial work (and the paychecks start coming in ) I'm going to buy all that stuff. Essentially Adobe gained me as a future customer as a result of me being able to use cracked versions of their software.

[pheeleep]

Why not take out a student loan that you will be able to start paying back once you get a full time job? That's what I did...

[diverdee]

When my little Bro. was studying music tech at college he got warez stuff from the guy's teaching him - eventually he got educational copies of stuff (he was working part time as well to fund his studies) eventually he bought logic 6.whatever & a mac & some other stuff to go with it - took him a while to save for it though. There were other guys on his course with brand spanking new macs & huge suites of software (fairly wealthy parents etc.). I'm not saying what my bro. & his teachers did was right - but they saw potential & helped him out - now he has bought - & owns the software going through whatever student upgrade routes there are - & at one point losing out with the whole apple vsti/au business (as he initially purchased cubase vst & some vsti's et. to go with it).
In the past i've spent a fair bit of dosh on daw tyupe stuff & i have also had an unhealthily large collection of warez - 2 be honest I wish i'd found & played with some of the warez stuff sooner - i'd have saved a fair bit of money on some turkey's I bought. Now I use very little & am extremely discerning about what I do purchase cost & effectiveness wise. Good thing nowadays is that there is an abundance of high quality freeware, donationware & just plain silly cheap stuff that's extremely high quality - I'm thinking of stuff like tracktion & ext (which I don't own - but may get hold of 1 day if i feel the need - waiting to see how T2 turns out first).
Anyway i'm probably rambling now - time to get my medication......






Nurse? Nurse?

[hitman8081]

When my little Bro. was studying music tech at college he got warez stuff from the guy's teaching him - eventually he got educational copies of stuff (he was working part time as well to fund his studies) eventually he bought logic 6.whatever & a mac & some other stuff to go with it - took him a while to save for it though. There were other guys on his course with brand spanking new macs & huge suites of software (fairly wealthy parents etc.). I'm not saying what my bro. & his teachers did was right - but they saw potential & helped him out - now he has bought - & owns the software going through whatever student upgrade routes there are - & at one point losing out with the whole apple vsti/au business (as he initially purchased cubase vst & some vsti's et. to go with it).
In the past i've spent a fair bit of dosh on daw tyupe stuff & i have also had an unhealthily large collection of warez - 2 be honest I wish i'd found & played with some of the warez stuff sooner - i'd have saved a fair bit of money on some turkey's I bought. Now I use very little & am extremely discerning about what I do purchase cost & effectiveness wise. Good thing nowadays is that there is an abundance of high quality freeware, donationware & just plain silly cheap stuff that's extremely high quality - I'm thinking of stuff like tracktion & ext (which I don't own - but may get hold of 1 day if i feel the need - waiting to see how T2 turns out first).
Anyway i'm probably rambling now - time to get my medication......






Nurse? Nurse?

riight. so your saying that you have and currently use warez ripping off developers for your own selfish needs. ook. just like they said to me when i said the same thing you did. you got balls comming on here and admitting you use warez while we all pay oodles for our software. why dont you just leave and never comeback cause people like you are not wanted here