[drzaiusapelord]

That's funny as my wife and I have probably streamed hundreds of items with our Chromecast from various sources including the Play Store and have never had the slightest issue. We do have quality issues with Netflix sometimes, but its pretty rare and seems to be related to choppy wifi connections due to interference (since moving to 5ghz wifi we haven't had issues - which may be coincidental). Online services have issues sometimes. I think we need to accept life will have the occasional inconvenience. I bought a $35,000+ car that had engine trouble one year in and had to arrange with the warranty people at the dealer about replacing the engine. A $3 movie not playing isn't remotely comparable with that, but we accept that cars need work sometimes, so why the double-standard for IT systems? You just gotta accept that life is not perfect and not to over-react or toss out the baby with the bathwater.

I think you're playing up an edge case and frankly that seems disingenuous to me. It seems like every pro-pirate person has some shaggy dog story that "validates" their pirating. I also take issue with how 'easy' it is to pirate. Sure, if its for a current hot item and everyone is seeding it, but once the fanboys go away the seeders are mostly gone and now you're waiting hours (or even days!) to pirate something. Worse, you may expect a lawsuit from the copyright holders as torrents expose your real IP address unless you're using an offshore VPN or VPS which also adds a another layer of inconvenience and monthly billing.

Currently, we have two FireTV boxes and two Chromecasts for our two TV's and they're borderline magical. We have so much content on tap that "just works" that the argument of "its better to pirate" is pretty unconvincing to people without a political agenda. I also want to be part of a system that pays investors and producers of said content for moral and practical reasons. We don't need a Sega Dreamcast-like situation where the pirates kill platforms, hurt competition, and create disincentives to innovate, distribute, and create.

[ftrflyr]

Listen mate. I am not playing up an edge case here and even if I were, you are very much doing the same thing.

When I pay for a service, travel frequently, and cannot use that service because of licensing restrictions due to ads, that is a problem. That tells me these streaming services put more stock into my viewing ads than accessing content I am already paying for. I am not pro-pirate. Nor is your car analogy relevant. You are comparing apples and oranges (the business models aren't remotely the same and the value propositions are completely different, to me, that is disingenuous.

[emerod]

I agree, it's an anecdotal rationalization, as is yours. Yet, it's also true that creators actively frustrate efficient use of distribution platforms in support of their bad business models.