[garply]

I like that analogy.

It's interesting that we focused on different aspects of the quality of pirated goods. You assumed illegal copies are of worse quality than the original - and this can be true: that copy of Photoshop you grabbed illegally may well be carrying a Trojan.

But I don't think it's always that simple: A person can watch new TV episodes faster off of torrent sites than he/she can see them on Hulu, and without ads. I'm pretty sure the faster, ad-less version is more valuable than the original. Likewise, DRM-less MP3s are probably more valuable than locked ones from the original CD, etc.

[randallsquared]

I only added that in to be a bit more accurate; in general, I only think illegal copies are worse on average (meaning more of them have problems than "approved" copies have problems). I could continue quibbling by talking about movies copied via camera in the theater, but I won't bother; I actually do agree that in many areas the pirated copies are better all around than non-pirated copies.

The reason I felt compelled to give another analogy, though, was a another difference: the ease of making more apples / wheat / copies, in one's own backyard (or computer, as the case is). I felt that that was an essential part of the picture, missing from the wheat scenario. :)