If you owned an electronics store and I took a DVD player and left, am I just trying it before I buy it? What if I don't want to pay $50 for a DVD player and throw a $10 on the counter. As the customer, am I right to do this? Think about it.
If you want to try it before buying, you're free to bring your own discs. My shop assistant will plug the player into television for you and you're free to try how does it play your discs. If you like what you get, you can buy the player. If not, you can try another player. You can even leave and not buy anything. Everyone's happy.
On the other hand, movie business is like those huge appliance-selling chains that just take your money, hand you a sealed box and expect you to haul it all the way to your home, try the appliance at home and haul it all the way back to return it if it is faulty. They're basically turning their expenses over to the customer.
As for bad movie experiences happening to you already: too bad. Suck it up and learn your lesson by not seeing a movie by that director/producer/film company. Otherwise, you're stealing. Honestly, why should they pay for your mistake? You weren't forced to see it, no one made you put money on the counter for it. Your taste may be different from the guy next to you who loved the movie. Guess what? You don't get paid to not like something, and you certainly don't steal simply because you don't want to pay for it.
If you steal something, it vanishes. Basically, if they sell you a movie by advertising it falsely, with a cleverly cut teaser, as a good movie,
they stole your money, albeit legally. However, if you download the movie and see it to decide if you
want to see it in cinema, you didn't steal anything. The movie doesn't magically vanish from cinema just because you downloaded it. You merely prevented
them from stealing your money, but they aren't missing anything. Except for the money they intended to steal
from you.
One more thing: There are some things you can't try before you buy: Underwear, Prostitutes, and Theater Release movies.
If the underwear is lousy, I can return it and get my money back. If the prostitute is lousy, I can at least beat her. What am I supposed to do if the movie is lousy - pee all over the silver screen? Dunno about your country, but in my country, I usually can't get the admission money back, no matter how stupid the movie is and no matter how early in the movie I leave.
Caveat emptor principle is valid, but that's only one more argument for downloading: downloading means doing everything you can in order to avoid losing money. When you are buying an used car, you expect to test it and have it checked by your mechanic before you pay; and this is exactly the same. Caveat emptor, I totally agree. Let the buyer be wary. Downloading a movie to decide whether to see it in cinema
is being wary.
It may be morally uncertain. But so is selling a pig in a poke, which is basically what Hollywood is doing. People are only defending ourselves. Movie piracy is just a response of cheated customers.
