Is it Illegal To...

Wishmaster said:

Most software can just be re-downloaded from the official source.
In some cases, going to the official site and downloading the latest trial version works too. Just apply your key and it unlocks to a full version.

Good point.

It's exactly what I did for my copy of Adobe Design Premium CS4. I paid £10 to have Adobe send me the trial DVD set, which installed without a hitch and activated with my serial number.

This way, the original discs are untouched, while the trial discs saved me the aggravation of burning copies of the originals.

Darryl Licht said:

EvilOzzmess said:

...because to be frank, ripping a copy off of disks that I've bought is too time consuming and stresses out my system too much to do it, especially in the case of movies, (and yeah, even with 4GB RAM and Core 2 Duo), so I torrent instead to speed up the process.

...As for ripping copies as soon as you get the new software/disks etc.: this isn't always possible because of the spyware security crap they lace into the disks. It takes more experienced people to crack that and get rid of it and to then unlock the contents so they can be copied and whatever else you want to do with them (ESPECIALLY software and movies). This is reason No. 2 that I personally torrent instead of rip as well, because I'm not a programmer and can't do it...

OP is talking about SW not movies... RIGHT???

Ripping a disc takes longer than a download from a torrent??? Somethings wrong with your system then... seriously wrong! I can rip an entire DVD in 7 minutes, to download a movie an hour on average, and I have same DL speed as you.

I was stating all of that as a FOR-INSTANCE and a FYI kind of a thing to cover all the bases, not just specifically for the OP. But hey, maybe you're right... maybe there is something wrong with my system because it takes a good two hours for me to get the .ISO all put together no matter what it is... or maybe it's the program. Either way, don't know and don't really care. Torrents have saved my rear end dozens of times when my older game disks crapped out before I even figured out how to rip them myself (it isn't easy straight off and there's piss poor instructions out there for this type of thing, it's all trial and error). And way to blow right over the fact about security spyware crap making it almost IMPOSSIBLE to make a backup copy of most software and games today. So yeah, torrents come in handy and I personally see no problem with utilizing them if you've already paid for the content you're downloading, and I certainly don't consider that stealing under those circumstances and I don't think a Federal Court could either if you procure the proof - a disk and a serial. You may disagree, and that's fine. But that's my take on it and I'll be sticking to it.

Wishmaster said:

I honestly believe that some software, and games for that matter, get a bad reputation due to reviews of the pirated versions.


Now, dont get me wrong. I do understand some may have tried a certain software and simply did not like it, or had legit issues. Nero is a big one, as some love it, some hate it.
And that is perfectly fine, everyone has a right to thier own opinion.


Im simply saying, I think some software and games get a bad rap due to pirated versions that are badly cracked, or other issues that were included with it.
I've never had any issue out of my software, but mine are all legit.


If you think about it, how many time have we seen someone with issues running a game or the game causing loads of problems?
Only to find out later its torrented copy.



As far as the movies go, yea .. it doesnt take long to rip one.
A BluRay disc will take about 30-45minutes to rip, and they take much longer than DVD. And thats 35-50GB of DATA.

Not only that, but pirated versions of movies use really poor encoding settings IMO.
Your better off, if the intent is to recode to file, doing it your self.

By the time you download a poorly encoded video, you could have ripped, recoded a high Quality Version of it, and be half way through watching it.
Why settle for mediocre, illegally, when you can have much better quality, faster, and legit?

I do apologize, and I do understand everyone has thier own opinion on things.
But no matter how hard I try, I can not find any justification at all for torrenting anything.

Lol @ the bold part, I remember that for Batman : Arkham Asylum & Crysis 2 (partially though)!!

You need Magic to create an ISO of discs these days