Is it ethical to buy illegal copies of music CD's and movies from street vendors. Especially when you know that by buying these copies, the record companies, movie production companies, actors, artists and others involved in their production do not get a profit from the sale. This is the dilemma I had as weather or not I should buy bootlegged products because while they are cheaper, it is depriving the legitimate profits that companies who produce the music and movies would receive along with the actors and artists involved.
The situation that I encountered was while I was walking around New York City with friends. Everywhere I went, I saw street vendors selling various music and movie titles, including titles were not yet released on cd or dvd, including some movies that were still in the theaters. The majority of which were illegal pirated copies. But then I also saw a Tower Records store, which sells the real legitimate cd's and dvd's. I had to make a choice if I wanted to pay $15 or more for a CD or movie when down the block I could purchase one of these illegal copies for as little as five dollars and have money left over to buy another one.
I had to weigh the pros and cons as to weather I should purchase the pirated copies or not. The biggest advantage of buying these is that many of the music and movies titles offered are brand new and have not yet been released for sale in the stores yet. Another big advantage is that the cost of these copies is much cheaper than you could get them in the stores. Also why should I spend all my money on a CD or movie to listen to for a few weeks or a dvd that I watch once and never use again. Then now we find out that the record production companies were illegally price fixing their products thus overcha ...