Moral Dilemma

[colonel panic]

This is naive but I don't think that ripping library materials is as morally wrong as ripping pirated things. I check out DVD's of episodic shows (like "The Wire") at the library and sometimes I don't have time to watch all the episodes on a DVD.

My options are:

1. Keep checking out the DVD's (and blocking other patrons from checking them out [they are popular])

or

2. Rip them, burn them and watch them at a later date (but only watch them once)

or (obviously)

3. Netflix or legal download what-have-you

Is it bad/wrong to rip library materials if only to not be a media hog? And, some people wouldn't use the library at all (I'm speculating) if they couldn't rip the Lost DVDs.

I do have a Netflix account so this is really a curiosity thing more than anything else.

[nec13]

This is a weighty issue. I've thought about doing exactly what you proposed in the past. But I always resist it. Not for legal or ethical reasons, but rather because I've always thought it would be time consuming. Personally, I don't think it's worth the effort to burn and rip DVD's, especially if you're just going to dispose of them later anyway.

I'd just keep checking out the DVD's from the library. You're not being a media hog. People just have to wait their turn.

But what the hell do I know?

[Julie]

I think it doesn't matter. If whatever it is were good enough that you were a fan, then you would buy it. Right? Because otherwise you are a slimeball. But why should you buy something that really isn't good? YOU SHOULDN'T! Make those entertainment people entertain you!

[buffcoat]

Your dilemma is that you have morals.

[colonel panic]

Well put Julie.

[erechoveraker]

I rip all my netflix rentals, and put them on an external hd (or 2) I have hooked up to my 360. I'm done buying DVD's of movies, sans tv shows. Once buying digital copies of things becomes a more valid option, and not just renting or whatever, I'll do that, but until then...

[yesno]

I've just given up on collecting video at all.  I've got walls of books and vinyl, and hard drives of music, audiobooks, and comics.  You've got to draw the line.  Netflix access is enough.  5 or 6 years ago I sold all my DVDs to the record store and have been much happier and richer since.

It's hard to google because of the Netflix Prize, but there's a group working on the "Netflix Project" where they amass rips of every DVD in the Netflix collection.  Sick.

I used to think otherwise, but if there were some reliable service I could subscribe to that had literally all music that has ever been released on a label, I mean everything from Personal and the Pizzas to Grobschnitt, and offered it in a way where I could listen offline, I would subscribe in a second.  I prefer access to ownership.  The world doesn't need me to be its music archivist.

[Trembling Eagle]

I've heard that some Native American's express shock that early European settlers to the Americas
would be starving in their settlements. "How can you starve when you live next to a forest and have the sea at your back?", I bet that's what they were thinking.

[fonpr]

I've heard that some Native American's express shock that early European settlers to the Americas
would be starving in their settlements. "How can you starve when you live next to a forest and have the sea at your back?", I bet that's what they were thinking.

I frequently imagine the Native Americas coming out of the woods, and "discovering" white people on the beach.