this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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I wanted to try out Serato Sample's new stem separation tool added in 2.0 so I downloaded a crack to see if it was worthwhile.

Only now a week later do I remember I purchased the old version on sale and think to check if it's a free upgrade.

Now I can't decide if I want to bother uninstalling and installing my legitimate copy

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Shit, I've pirated something because I forgot I had already pirated it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Came here for exactly this comment verbatim

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Well then it's a good thing I made it

[–] [email protected] 46 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I pirate because it's more convenient. No launcher, no update, no DRM, no need to be always online. I still purchase games but still play the pirated version.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I bought a physical book, but I like reading from my Kindle better so I pirated a copy of it as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I quite often do this for art books, I find it easier on my eyes reading text on the pirate ebook version (I can make the font as big as I need), but use the hardcopy for eyeing up the pictures

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’ve been pirating for years and am literally just now learning about exactly how bad the launcher apocalypse has gotten. Didn’t even know you needed one for legit Ubisoft games lmao.

And nothing of value was lost.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I bought a physical book, but I like reading from my Kindle better so I pirated a copy of it as well.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I found my home server is sooooo much faster and more reliable than my streaming services. I usually forget I can watch in a legit way. No ads to skip, stupid popups when you pause, or buffering issues. I ❤️ Local Files!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

I've considered this before too. Watching a movie on a streaming service only to see it buffer and decrease quality before more visually intensive scenes. It's pathetic how easily I could find a better encoded rip, stream it to my TV, and actually be able to appreciate those scenes the artists worked so hard on.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I pirated a game because my parents had a party at our house and I didn't want to deal with people while getting the game from the living room.

For the curious, LoZ:Twilight Princess.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I have pirated games I own because the game was downstairs and I didn't feel like going down there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I love this

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Basically everything on prime video because I can't stand the lag on the official app

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Same. Since they don't support Linux. (Only low quality playback on Linux)

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have pirated stuff I know I own because the pirated copy was better quality than what I actually paid for.

I've own GTA 4 on Steam for years but recently sort out a cracked copy because I keep having issues with Rockstars shitty DRM and them removing songs from the radio in updates.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Who doesn't have issues with Steam. In my case I have two older games who's Steam versions plain suck, pirated versions however, just flawless.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

That's on the publisher, Rockstar sucks a lot for old games.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I once pirated a book I wrote because it was faster to download a pirate PDF than to find my original files and export a PDF myself.

It still counted as piracy because the book was owned by a company I used to own.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

Man, I'll download stuff just because I don't want to dig through all the DVDs lol.

But, yah, I actually have done that a few times. I even did it twice with goonies. I keep forgetting that I got it as a gift on DVD years ago, get a hankering to watch it, and I've got so many files that it's easy for my dyslexic ass to miss one while scrolling.

Did it with several of those older nostalgia movies here and there because of the same reason. But I still never get around to dyslexia proofing my file naming lol.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I bought starsector but I have no idea what my actual key is anymore so I always just use the key from SsethTzeentach's video on it. So it's technically piracy but from what I've heard the Starsector dev doesn't care that people just use that key because that video and the key being released publicly made their sales go way up anyways. They're one of the few devs that realizes that piracy doesn't actually hurt their sales.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Hey Hey People

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

More. I downloaded The Last Wish in PDF I think, but I forgot I had bought the book. After a spring cleaning I found a second copy of the book I had bought.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Not what you asked, but I pirated a software because it could only run on one machine. For my second computer they wanted me to buy another license... Unacceptable.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

I pirate things I have right in front of me!! Scratched DVD's that won't rip, same for CD's, and sometimes old digital formats that are no longer well supported, or in the case of eBooks, don't re-flow properly. Yes, some of us are still doing weird shit we got used to on Blackberries and Palm Pilots(These days I use Sprint Reader, but I'll also read the material normally when studying for a test).

Some shows or movies I pay to stream don't work well on whatever device I've opted to play them on. Knowing why doesn't magically give me the means to transcode as needed without screen capture; Piracy skips the steps of watching them on a device I didn't mean to just to edit/trim and then have them in a format I no longer need!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

I've downloaded a car. Now I have 2 car.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

GTA: SA. I have a DVD for the official PC version, it's the one with all the music still intact. I often re-download it on TPB and then remember that I made an ISO of my good ol' DVD version ^^

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Yes, because I lost the original version.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

I pirate things knowing that I own them... All my old TurboGraphx HuCard roms. I would rather play on modern hardware.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Yeah. I pirated it already.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Because I forgot I own it... no. But because I was too lazy go get the physical media and insert into my desktop player, oh yes. To be fair it downloaded probably faster than the time I would've spent looking for it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Downloaded Control from Fitgirl, but turns out I already have it on Epic.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

At least when you pirate it you have chance of it not containing malware.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I trust FitGirl. But does Epic Game Store have malware? All of my purchased games are on Steam.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Depends how you define malware. Technically speaking, EGS's spyware behaviour is disclosed in long format legalese just vaguely enough that they can turn around and say "well, you did accept the terms of service"...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I thought I had cyberpunk on steam, couldn't find it so figured I must have pirated it when it launched. I downloaded it and was about to install it when a friend reminded me that gog existed and that was where I owned it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

to see if it was worthwhile.

If you are done with what you were set out to do, then sure, upgrade it if it's free.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not sure why you got downvoted. Though to your question, never happened to me.

But I did pirate a game, I already owned. Death Stranding. I owned it for the PS4 and I back then hated it.

Wanted to retry it but just for the story. Pirated it on PC, got WeMod put everything on and went to play for story, environment and relaxation.

It was such an amazing experience.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's alright. Points don't matter. If the community doesn't like this prompt I don't mind.

Death Stranding always looked odd to me but with time it's started to sound more unique and worthwhile.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’ve pirated old games because I don’t remember where the floppies are, let alone a floppy drive.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I’ve pirated games because I was too lazy to put the disc in…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I do that when I need data files for some open source engine recreation. I have multiple copies of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and Morrowind but can't be bothered to reinstall them for five minutes of use.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I've done that with console games on multiple occasions. I'll own a physical copy and already went through the trouble to back up my own copy with my console but I'll download it anyway

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I usually play the pirated (abandoned) version of No One Lives Forever because I'm too lazy to deal with the disc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

How is Serato these days? I moved to Traktor around 5 years ago but have recently been looking to change controllers and not sure if I should stick with Traktor or try moving back.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I just use the sampler as a VST in my daw for some inspiration.

Edit: now that I look they actually have a pretty generous 30 day trial for Sample 2.0 even if you've trialed an older version before. I'm so used to 3 day trials with something like iLok tacked on too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

i often pirate movies from a streaming services that im subscribed why? well im used to watch movies at 1.10x speed and tvshows at 1.15x i'd been doing this for years now and i cant go back and netflix or primevideo apps in Smart TV dont allow you to set custom speed so i download the movie on my nas and watch it using VLC for android TV/FIRETV better quality and custom speed.

this is in my bedroom on PC i cant set custom speed using browser

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