God, I hate DRM.

[J T]

God, I hate dongles! I use Logic Audio and it doesn't even recognize the stupid dongle half the time.

[Niode]

I use Logic Pro, the only reason I use it is because it's the only one that doesn't need a dongle aside from Ableton, but I can't stand Ableton. Even Pro Tools require you to use their hardware. Which is fair enough on the HD models since the TDM plugins and other software features are processed using the hardware, but for LE it's a bit annoying since I have to plug an Mbox or 003 or whatever into the system just to be able to use it.

I don't have enough USB ports for all the dongles I'd need to run all my software plugins. If the plugin uses a dongle that's not an iLok and I can't find a crack for it I simply won't buy it.

[JordanPlayer]

I usually pirate PC games (most of them I end up burning and never playing). I can say that I hardly ever have problems with these games running as long as there is a crack provided. If they are multiplayer games such as Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead I buy them because there isn't a way around this.

I got GTA 4 as a gift near Valentine's Day and was excited to start playing it. The game installed and ran perfectly the first time (disc had to be present in the CD drive). However, after the first time of playing whenever I would try to start the game SecuRom would usually bring up a message saying something like check to make sure the disc is a backup... when I hadn't even opened the Disc tray since the last time I played. I would basically open the disc drive, pick up the disc and rotate it; then put it back in and hope it works. This is the only way I can solve this stupid problem, and now I honestly realize why people hate DRM so much. It is annoying, hinders the real consumer, and doesn't deter pirates. In fact, all it did was make me download the crack so I it starts the first time and I can play without a disc in the drive

[RCBH928]

Well
I am not sure what DRM is, but if it still can get cracked then why even use it?

This is what I think.
Buy a game, do not open it. Download an illegal copy(legal since you paid for it) .
Play and have as much fun as you want.
Later on, you can get extra cash for your sealed copy or it will be amazing in your collection. You win.

[Niode]

Well
I am not sure what DRM is, but if it still can get cracked then why even use it?

This is what I think.
Buy a game, do not open it. Download an illegal copy(legal since you paid for it) .
Play and have as much fun as you want.
Later on, you can get extra cash for your sealed copy or it will be amazing in your collection. You win.

I've done this with a lot of the rare PS2 games. They all sit mint and sealed on my shelves whilst I play a disc image on my PS2. Is the only law I'm breaking here the fact that I've downloaded it? It's not like they lost sales from me pirating it since I bought it, but is there an issue being the copy is not a copy from the disc I bought? I'm not bothered about the legal implications I just would like to know how it would be seen from a law perspective.

[Ivo]

I'm not bothered about the legal implications I just would like to know how it would be seen from a law perspective.

I am not a lawyer and I think this would depend on the legal system of the country anyway.
My basic understanding is that fair use laws used to give you the right to create your own backups as long as you don't distribute them and they are for your personal use etc.. This is technically not what you are doing.

There is no doubt that whoever distributed the copy you ended up burning was doing something illegal. As for you just burning it when you have the original, in the letter of the law it may still be illegal, but in the spirit of the fair use I don't see why not going through the technical requirements to do the dump and then backup yourself would make the difference.

Ivo.

[SpaceBooger]

I'm not bothered about the legal implications I just would like to know how it would be seen from a law perspective.

I am not a lawyer and I think this would depend on the legal system of the country anyway.
My basic understanding is that fair use laws used to give you the right to create your own backups as long as you don't distribute them and they are for your personal use etc.. This is technically not what you are doing.

There is no doubt that whoever distributed the copy you ended up burning was doing something illegal. As for you just burning it when you have the original, in the letter of the law it may still be illegal, but in the spirit of the fair use I don't see why not going through the technical requirements to do the dump and then backup yourself would make the difference.

Ivo.

Off Subject:
So the fact that I own both copies of Lunar for my Sega CD and burned my own copies (I could never get the iso mp3 thing to work) to play I'm good with the law, right?

On Subject:
I know I do it and others have mentioned it but is it cool that we sometimes buy the real thing and still use the "no cd" crack to play it?

[Funk, E]

Cracks are illegal.

[Erik_Twice]

Cracks are illegal.

No, they aren't.

And anticopy measures are illegal. You have the right to make as many backups as you wish.

[Funk, E]

A crack is a method for circumventing copy protection, which is illegal.