Since I started making real money, I’ve attempted to steer clear of software- and media piracy. In particular, all non-free software that I use has been paid for, and my music collection contains zero pirated tracks.

For a few years now, I haven’t really bought any new music, so a few weeks ago I decided that I was getting seriously tired of listening to the same ~1000 tracks over and over again. To get things rolling, I initially bought a few albums through the iTunes music store (ITMS). I then realised that I was getting screwed with my pants on: prices on the iTunes music store are way above prices at stores like cdwow.com in spite of the facts that the quality is much poorer, I don’t get the physical album and the tracks will only play on a very limited number of devices. If it wasn’t because ITMS is so damn convenient, it’s difficult to see why anyone would want to buy anything through it.

What to do instead I wondered. The answer: Order CD-ROMs from virtual shops like cdwow.com. So, I went ahead and ordered a few albums (Apollo 440 and Eminem). The cdwow website estimated delivery within 10 days. Yesterday, after 4 weeks of waiting, the CD’s finally arrived in my mail box. It was always my intention to simply rip the CD’s to mp3’s. Who really wants to tote around a stack of CDs these days? But, lo and behold, the Eminem disk appears to be DRM-protected to the extent that my PowerBook refuses to even read it, let alone rip it. (The Apollo 440 ripped fine, though).

Compare this (and the associated exorbinant fees) to pointing your browser at sites such as isohunt.com or thepiratebay.org and you have a very uncompelling alternative to pirating (big label) music.

I all fairness I feel compelled to point out emusic.com, which provides an extremely streamlined interface to loads and loads of indie-label music at very modest prices.

Long story short: The big-label industry is not going to overcome their problems with pirating any time soon. At least not as long as pirates get a better product for free, than what paying customers can even begin to hope for.