[Discussion] Have you ever pirated something because you forgot you own it?

can@sh.itjust.works to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 137 points –

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

60

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

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.

Yeah, I got GTA V free from Epic years ago and it was so frustrating to have to deal with 3 layers of DRM (Epic launcher, Rockstar launcher, and Social Club) that I just pirated it. Fuck that.

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

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Ahaha you jumped directly into Rockstar, in my case one game was EA and the other Microsoft / Xbox studios etc.

"Games For Windows" was a crime against humanity. One day after an update, my copy of Bioshock just wouldn't work any more. Assholes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

I spent hours trying to find a specific DVD and gave up. Found it by other means in about 10 minutes.

Eventually I found the DVD about 6 months later misplaced in a CD case.

Didnt lose any sleep over that one.

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 ^^

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.

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

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

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

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

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"...

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.

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

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.

I have learned it works well enough to integrate into my workflow. Which was why I was looking into purchasing it, when I realized the buy option was replaced with download when I signed in.

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

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

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

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.

After I posted this, gave it a bit more thought and I’ve done the same thing with CD-ROM games because I barely even use CD/DVD these days.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

On the off chance the checksum on yours is different, you don't want it somehow noted and flagged by ... anyways, levels of paranoia I get and respect. They can't take that thumb drive if its air-gapped!! Keep it hidden and safe children, its my legacy!

If I could find a dense and permanent enough storage medium, I would take (a copy of)it all to my grave... Feeling like by the time such reaches consumers at a reasonable price, it will also be able to hold a copy of the Pole Shif Survival Guide.

On the off chance the checksum on yours is different, you don't want it somehow noted and flagged by ... anyways, levels of paranoia I get and respect. They can't take that thumb drive if its air-gapped!!

Do you think I'm worried about Microsoft coming after me for backing up my copy of Halo?

Fuck if I know or care. I was looking for a reason for you to do what you did, not demanding that you provide one.

I make backups in case of disc or disc reader failures and download them through other means on occasion because I can't be bothered removing the drive from the console or setting up an FTP server.

I pirated the game for my Wii unbecaaise even when I bought second Blu-ray/dvd whatever for the game , it won't run and I get errors about it