The one I take most offence to is the price of a digital book (a word document effectively).
Although I appreciate the author needs to get paid!
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Iāve no problem with paying for books. What Iād really like is a free digital copy with a physical one. I value ebooks for the convenience (particularly on holiday) but often like a hardback for the library*
*couple of shelves in the living room
(Edit: @Jackcrwhitney, any chance of spinning off this digital disruption of industries chat to another thread?)
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You have the choice, as do you have the choice whether to steal or not
I have the choice indeed, and I take the choice to not really care about new films. However I also have the choice to disagree with you calling this āstealingā. 
Your wish is my command 
,
As requested some posts have been split into this new thread, the chat was snowballing into itās own topic 
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The legal definition of stealing is taking with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the item. This is why joyriding is not prosecuted as theft.
Canāt see how legally, copying a digital work can be considered stealing under this definition.
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Perhaps it doesnāt fit the legal definition, but then the wording of many laws show how out of date the legal system is.
Wording aside, downloading a film for free, which should otherwise be paid for (at the cinema or on dvd), is against the law (one way or the other).
Just because you donāt care about the film, doesnāt make it right (and of you donāt care about it, why download it?).
There absolutely needs to be a better system in place - The cost of cinema for a family of 4 is criminal.
But I donāt see a reason to take something for free, when others go by the rule book and pay for it.
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I was under the impression (from first hand experience) it was illegal to copy or distribute copyrighted material - but to receive it.
Thus, when you download movies (or any other digital content), you are not strictly breaking the law, the person (or people) sending you the file are.
Thatās not to say you arenāt breaking the terms set out by your ISP by doing so.
Edit: I may be completely wrong here after a quick Google search
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Its copyright law. Youāre either breaking someones copyright or your not. How you might be treated under the law for copying a file versus distributing a file may change depending on severity but its not any less illegal.
Its also not illegal to copy and download, or distribute a copyrighted piece of work, if the license on that piece of work allows it (think GPL, or creative commons license).
Copyright law can also be a civil or criminal offence depending on the type of activity that was done.
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And here is the definition of intent to permanently deprive:
With the intention of permanently depriving the other of itā.
(1)A person appropriating property belonging to another without meaning the other permanently to lose the thing itself is nevertheless to be regarded as having the intention of permanently depriving the other of it if his intention is to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the otherās rights;
Source
I agree, stealing is stealing regardless of it being digital or physical.
But one thing, most people use youtube for their music these days which is freeā¦ and the industry seems to be doing fine ?
This is worth a read.
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Thereās a really interesting book on this topic called āHow Music Got Freeā.
It starts from the likes of Napster and the industry initially failing to adapt to the changes in technology. It also shows how the rewards from the industry have become far more consolidated to fewer starts, making it much harder to make a living from the music industry now.
Personally, I would suspect the video/TV industry to go much the same way, although at least there are legal affordable options available to meet demand here.
Premium live TV (especially sports) is still a big problem with the easy availability of streams, although I suspect itāll prove more easy to crack down upon than music in the medium term. Itās possible to embed unique IDās that display within the video on set-top-boxes or streams which identify the sources of the illicit feeds and enable them to be switched off.