We've been saying it for years, and plenty of past studies have supported the assertion as well, but yet another report -- this time based on a survey in Denmark -- shows that those who regularly download unauthorized works online would actually prefer to use legal services, but are frustrated by the lack of convenience, choice and availability. The survey results did not directly have them complain about price, but when asked what would reduce infringement, price was a major variable. In other words: offer a reasonable service that is convenient, useful, not limited and which is reasonably priced, and you'll convince a lot of people that it's more worthwhile than infringement. We've certainly seen this in some areas already, but truly convenient and reasonably priced services are still hard to find for the most part. It would be great to see more competition and more innovation in that space -- and reports like this suggest it would actually be good for everyone -- including the copyright holders. Oh, and for the record, this report (also like tons before) show that those who infringe also tend to buy plenty of content as well.

We've discussed a few times in the past about how actor Wil Wheaton seems to understand that piracy isn't an enforcement issue, but a business model/service issue. He's also been somewhat vocal (since before many others caught on) concerning his opinion that SOPA/PIPA are a bad idea. And now he's responded to our story about Chris Dodd threatening politicians that the MPAA has financially backed if they don't pass PIPA/SOPA, by not only calling Dodd completely tone-deaf, but also noting that Dodd is lying about lost jobs:

I have lost more money to creative accounting, and American workers have lost more jobs to runaway production, than anything associated with what the MPAA calls piracy. Chris Dodd is lying about piracy costing us jobs. Hollywood’s refusal to adapt to changing times is what’s costing the studios money. That’s it.

Indeed, we've explained how highly questionable Hollywood accounting is used to keep actors from getting paid, even on some of the most successful movies ever. And, Wheaton is absolutely right. As we've been saying for the better part of a decade, the best way to deal with "piracy" is to properly compete with it. But Dodd and the MPAA still just don't get that. Actually innovating and competing in the market just isn't how things are done in Washington DC, I guess.

An anonymous user pointed us to this nice quick video of actor/geek Wil Wheaton discussing how the entertainment industry needs to catch up with the 21st century when it comes to dealing with "piracy." It starts out with Wil saying: "As soon as the entertainment industry provides an alternative to Bittorrent or an alternative to piracy, that makes it just as easy for honest people to get access to the programming, then the piracy dries up." Of course, plenty of us have said this for years, but it's nice to see another actor speaking up about this, even if it's one as "in touch" with the tech world as Wheaton. Wheaton goes on to quote Gabe Newell, to explain how the industry is too often focused on pirates who will never pay, and to talk about the ridiculousness of him not being able to watch videos he had legally purchased while travelling in Canada because he was outside the proper territory. The whole (short) video is completely worth watching. He notes that it's difficult to pull the entertainment industry into the modern era and suggests that they're just about reaching 1997 right now.