iTunes software piracy incentives

People steal software for many reasons. Of course it's generally easier to copy and share your mp3 collection than it is to walk out of HMV without paying for a bagful of CDs. Mailing application serial numbers around is certainly convenient for the morally corruptible amongst us and sharing account details for online systems is a well established practise.

So where does iTunes fit into this battle for moral righteousness? It only takes a casual browse around the iTunes store to see how many people think their pricing structure may help to promote piracy. Let's look at an example:

Lost series 1 Pay £32.99 on iTunes for video quality that is inferior to standard DVD (PAL resolution)

Pay £34.98 on Amazon for the full DVD boxed set

So for £1.99 extra you get a nicely boxed DVD set for your bookshelf that you can watch on a PC, Mac, TV or even projector with no scaling problems whatsoever. Additionally, there is lots of free software that will convert your Lost episodes to a format that can be viewed on any video capable iPod.

There is, of course, convenience to consider. With a few button clicks and a decent broadband connection you can download episodes of Lost directly to your computer and quickly switch them across to your iPod via firewire or USB2. It still seems a ridiculously high price to pay in my opinion when I can get next day delivery from Amazon for a 'real' product. This seems to be the general concensus of the general public too according to the comments that accompany many of the downloads that iTunes offer.

And there's more! Video downloads to the UK from iTunes cost considerably more than from the US. Alarmingly, in the US this same download costs $34.99 - meaning us poor souls in the UK pay almost double for an identical product. Come on Apple, be fair!

It's also bizarre that you are not able to make legitimate backups of your downloaded video to DVD. It seems that the very steps that iTunes are making to try and prevent piracy are alienating many of their potential customers.

Whilst these issues will not convert me to a life of piracy, I will certainly not be using the iTunes service unless some serious changes are made.