my take is this:
- Most of us can choose Open Source and then use that stuff legally (use GIMP instead of Photoshop, Linux instead of Windows), but most of us are too n00bed or mainstream to do that....
- In terms of mp3s, I personally don't think it robs artists as such... I mean, serious, just because I have mp3s does mean I don't buy cds... and sometimes (bcoz Australia is an Asian backwater), it is IMPOSSIBLE to buy cds of Jay Chow, SHE and the like... even the ones in Chinatown are pirate cds... so what do you do?
- Pricing becomes an issue for both Programs and Music... in China, where like 90% of the media is pirate, the companies have dropped the price for original software to suit the market - why not here? I mean seriously, if they dropped every popular program (or student editions of the programs) to like $30 - 50 bucks, I'd go buy all my stuff... Who has an excuse not to pay 50 bucks for Windows, say 30 for Word, 20 for Excel, 50 for Photoshop etc?
It's not completely the end-user's fault (although legally it is) - it is hard-lined action of corporate giants like Microsoft (Windows XP) and Sony (OpenMG copy-protection) that forces these activities.
My message to those corporations is simple: People are morally degenerate once their money is concerned (the same can be said of corporations too); if you drop the prices, you kill the piracy.