at one time pirates had a code of honor, check the **** out and if it was good buy it (if the cd was good go out and buy a copy, crappy movie delete it and forget about it. I will admit I have pirated a few movies (the walking dead, LOTR) but as soon as they were found on a store shelf I paid the money to help support the business so that the next great movies,game,ect would be able to be made. as for software my general rule was only download if it was unavailable for purchase or was extremely dated. I had pirated the original fallout games in 08 (I now own a physical copy) when they were impossible to find and when I was doing textures as a hobby I refused to use any of the newest two versions as I did not pay for the right to use a top of the line piece ,If I was doing anything more than a hobby I would have purchased as that is the only way to keep the company in business.
Music was always off limits as I would just check out a few songs on you tube and if they were good I would put down my monies or steal the CD from my sister
Now these pirates now a days are to short sighted for their own good as they only see the short term saving and not the long term damage. think about it this way if adobe does now make a heavy profit on Photoshop how the hell can they afford to build a newer, better more innovative system, what would have happened if every body just watched a pirated version of transformers, do you think they would have made sequels?
Hell Stealing is stealing and all your doing is hurting the industry in the long run....if you want everything for free go hop in bed with the Commies and you will see the meaning of "free"