the rent vs buy argument is another kind of debate, but pirating in a day when EVERYTHING can be purchased online is the new
wrong-kind-of-white-people with sweatpants at the register, shoplifting. (i wrote this as counterpoint to your classist postures)
i mean, napster was great--i owe napster my life. it opened up everything. but it's 2016 now and everything that was hidden is available cheaply online--even labels that won't stream will release mp3s and flacs, which makes stealing digital goods the true passé activity. i remember putting together a file exchange group here-- last i used it or contributed to it was 2006. nobody needs it anymore.
i mean, capitalism works by incentives. remove or reduce the incentives and things stop getting produced. now that all music is digital, there's no excuse for working adults to thieve. students and the starving class and citizens of developing countries okay.
does the future game of thrones cancellation have anything to do with the billions of illegal downloads every season? i wouldn't say all of it, but i'm sure it's part of the calculus. it's costs vs revenues.
anyway, redbox can be booked online for when you stop at the drugstore for beer and cigarettes. when you return the thing they start sending you coupons so you can pick up another trash movie when you return for your prescription.
i use it only rarely so as not to interfere with my criterion rentals from netflix for shit like the wolverine or the hangover 6 or whatever. cuz netflix won't stream criterion (hulu does) so you gotta get a disc if you don't get hulu (i don't). so anyway yes, redbox is the easy path to trash movies. netflix rentals on the other hand still has a good selection of good films that are not streamable through them (but are through other services).
as for the rent vs. buy: i prefer to rent because owning is a pain in the ass. owning implies maintaining--sorting, transfering, backing up, etc. fuck that shit, i already have too much office work. so i get 99% of my music from streaming services these days because it's much easier to handle while drinking-- let them sort and back up and reissue. can't wait till every label is on it, and i wouldn't mind paying more for that-- i'd pay extra $2/mo for a drag city "channel". come on spotifried.