Pirating is
something that we all do one time or another and in one shape or form. Whether
it is music files or software, it will cost some amount of money to obtain, but
we do not want to spend our hard earned money, so we try to take an easy way
out. Although this may seem like the easiest and most sensible option, there
are several disadvantages of pirating that I would like to note. First of all,
if you purchase a piece of software, chances are it will come with lifetime
free updates. When pirating software, there is no guarantee. It is possible
that you may end up with older outdated software that is unresponsive, crashes
frequently, and that you cannot upgrade. It is even possible that you may not
end up with any software at all. In the worst case, you could end up
downloading a virus or corrupted file. I do not know much about the method
behind pirating software, but I know that it involves code cracking and risk
taking.
On the more
obvious side of the spectrum, piracy is illegal. When you pirate software, you
are infringing the copyright law, even if the software is to be used for
educational purposes. The copyright law is already a touchy subject when it
comes to music making and production, so combining this with the illegal acquisition
of software could cause things to turn especially ugly. We must not forget that
software companies depend upon our business to stay in function, and if we stop
buying their products, they will be less and less able to serve us with those
products as well as new products and product updates. According to FL Studio’s
website, “We estimate that if 1 in 10 people using pirated copies purchased FL
Studio we could double the number of free features we add each year.” One
important thing to keep in mind is that some programs may have student offers.
For example, Finale offers a student package where you can purchase a piece of
software (that comes with several downloads) as a group, and everyone in the
group gets one download. This seems like an excellent way of spreading the
wealth to students who only need one copy of the program.
Next time
you are about to participate in the act of piracy, you have the option of considering
some of the points in this post and reconsidering your actions. Or, you may be
overly adventurous and decide that piracy is the best option. The option of
piracy certainly has its advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps the decision may
be easier now that you have an idea of what to look for when it comes to piracy.
Follow-up: this same idea can be applied to nondigital technology. As musicians, many of us use photocopies of music. Instead of buying a specific piece of music, our teachers may scan it and send it to us. Instead of buying a bunch of copies of one piece of music, we may buy one and make photocopies for the rest. Technically, this is as unlawful as pirating software (unless the music is old enough to be in the "public domain"). Do you think this is as harmful as pirating software? Do you think photocopying music is harmful at all, or is the copyright law just meant to be broken? These are issues that many of us never consider, yet we take part in these actions all the time.
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