Much has been made of the recent PirateBay.org trial in Europe and what file sharing means to intellectual property holders everywhere. I don't think there has been a definitive legal decision as yet, however let me relate a simple story that should clue most people in as to why there are pirates in the first place.
I watched the ABC Television series CASTLE the other day, but was pulled out of the final two acts of the show because of a phone call. I didn't worry though, knowing I could go to the ABC website the next day and stream the rest of the show to catch up.
I went to the ABC site and clicked several buttons, waiting for the show to load up.
Nothing.
Then the website said that I needed to download an "optimized player" in order to watch the show. It was a plug-in that added to Firefox.
Great. Did that.
Then it informed me I had to restart Firefox with the possibility it wouldn't be able to restore my previous session and that I would have to click around again to find the show.
O-kay. Did that. Clicked around. Found the show.
Clicked start.
Sputter. [Excuse me, "optimized sputter"]
Pause. Allow to buffer. Play. Sputter.
Repeat as insanity.
Then I clicked off the site, went to an "unauthorized stream" and two clicks later I was watching the show with no interruption, full-screen and great audio.
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FYI - I liked CASTLE. Light-hearted, fun and a good cast. I could easily see half a dozen stories right away, and different directions you could take the premise. It's a helluva lot better than BONES and 11th HOUR combined.
And if I miss it on television, I won't be catching up with it on the network's website.
