Earlier this week I came across this comic from The Oatmeal . It is worth looking at. Go ahead and read it , then come back. I will wait. Okay, back? Good. I thought it did a pretty good job of describing one reason that piracy is growing, so I shared the link on Facebook and Google+ with the following comment: This is why piracy exists. The studios continue to drag their feet at offering competitive or reasonable methods to acquire the media. The studios are just as guilty of the loss incurred by the artist if not more so than the customer who pirates. The artist is also responsible for finding a reliable distributor who is not going to make it difficult for customers to acquire the content. Piracy happens because it has the competitive advantage, not monetarily, but by ease of access. Then later that same night I came across Andy Inatko's blog post commenting on the comic . I thought he had made a few good points in his commentary. His post is also worth the read and I suggest