Pirated Vs. Original

Saw a news article on The Sun yesterday. The article with the heading "People Must Reject Pirated CDs", states that the government would want us (the public) to help in decreasing the demand for illegal products. And to be honest, I would love to help support original… IF they could give me enough good reasons why I should.

Let's weight it out:

1. One original CD cost around RM45 to RM50. Album from Japanese or Korean artiste can cost up to RM60! Whereas pirated CDs are only RM6 to RM10. If you're a smart consumer, which one would you choose? Besides, music listeners these days are the younger generations, which have lesser income. For them to afford one original CD means they will have to sacrifice (more than) a whole week of their allowance!

2. Another fact that ticks me off about original CDs is that they always have a second version of the same thing released not long after. Take Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi" for example. The first release was a normal 12-track album, then came a Deluxe Edition not long after, which includes a couple of music videos. And now there's an Ultra Platinum Edition! Same album!! Different versions! If you support original, have you any idea how much you're gonna be spending?!

3. Original VCDs are mostly movies that are expensive, censored and badly subtitled. Pirated VCDs are cheaper, uncensored, and you have an option to choose between subtitled, and non-subtitled. (Talk about choices!)

4. Original DVDs are even more expensive than anything else, still badly censored, and comes with an option of laughable subtitling. Though Pirated DVDs subtitles are also laughable some times, it has been improving drastically. The price is still way cheaper compared to original, and the best part is: it's still uncensored!

Don't give me bullshit excuses about pirated movies being unclear and the irrelevant theory about pirated CDs able to spoil your player. Those excuses are just plain absurd! You might as well just come out and say that pirated CDs can make your players explode! For al I know, most of the pirated DVDs out there have better quality pictures than what GSC is showing us, and minus the annoying ringing of cell phones during the movie.

I can still remember, a few months back, doing my duty of being a supportive fan, I bought an original CD while I was in KL. And guess what? The CD was defective! To make things worse, when I went back to the shop to exchange, 9 out of 10 of the CDs the shop have are also defective. The last CD they gave me, the last track can't even be played! And I paid RM40+ for it!! I can assure you that this will NOT happen if I'm buying a pirated CD! Even if it did happen, and IF they are unable to find a non-defective CD, I will get my money back! How many original record stores can guarantee us (the consumer) that?!

The day that I would buy original is the day that they STOP censoring movies and START giving us good services. Every time I walk into a record store, the sales people stares at me like I'm going to steal their stuff! Whereas when you walk into a pirated CD shop, all they give you is great service! As a consumer, which one would you want to walk into: One that gives you bad service and charge you truckloads of money for it? Or one that gives you good costumer service and sells cheaper goods, and also comes with a loyalty-costumer discounts?

Don't tell me pirates would spoil our music industry. Only quality movies and albums will be pirated. If our ALL our local artiste are as reputable as like KRU, and Jaclyn Victor, then yes, you will see their pirated albums out in the market. If you don't see it, it doesn't mean that you're good in keeping those pirates off your album. It means that your artist is NOT WORTH pirating!

Same goes for movies. Only good reputable movies will be pirated. And the last time I check, there are NO Malay movies being pirated into DVDs. Why? Because they're not even worth pirating, that's why. The only widely sold pirated Malaysian movie that is available in the market is Yasmin Ahmad’s "Sepet"! Why? Because it's good quality shit! Our own Malaysian pride and joy, that even our own Malaysian government censor, but it's now available on pirated DVD!!

Question Time: Between a censored version and an uncensored version of "Sepet", which would you support?

My take on this whole pirate versus original issue is that: If our government wants us to support original, they themselves will have to start by showing us a good example of keeping all the movies and music original. Stop chopping them up! If you want to chop them up, you might as well not show it! It's like "The Schindler's List". Either you show it in full, or not show it at all! And don’t give us that B.S. about what you think is good or bad for us. I think we Malaysians are smart enough to think for ourselves.

It's not that the public don't want to help; it's just human nature to want what they think is best. And all avid movie or music fans would know that The Best is something cheap and uncensored. Until the day the government can offer us that, the war against the pirates will not end.