A few years ago, the piracy user experience was far and away better than the legitimate user experience. Things then started to change: Netflix, Spotify, BBC iP

A few years ago, the piracy user experience was far and away better than the legitimate user experience. Things then started to change: Netflix, Spotify, BBC iPlayer, etc etc. The legit services are - with three exceptions - now in most cases better and easier and smoother than the piracy alternative. But the three exceptions can be fairly major: 1. Price (well, duh). Netflix is cheap imo, Spotify is cheap, but piracy is still free. 2. Spread of content. Less an issue with Spotify which has just about EVERYTHING but more so with video services. Piracy has any movie, any TV show. Netflix (and other services) only have those they've signed up. 3. Availability. Netflix is great in the US, okay in the UK, tolerable in other places. HBO Go is only available in a few countries. BBC iPlayer only in the UK. It's patchy. But: the signs are there than when content owners and distributions services can get their act together, legitimate distribution is a better user experience than piracy. That's only been the case for the last year, eighteen months. Mulligan appears to be casting aside many years of history when piracy was the only game in town. Popcorn Time has a great UI and is simple to use, but it's now playing catch-up with paid services when for a decade or more, piracy was streets ahead in ability and usability.