Well they still watch/use/listen to the "inferior" product, so if it's worth watching/using/listening to, why is it not worth paying for? Or should people be able to set their own prices on what they get?

No, pirates constantly get a superior product to anything you can buy.

That's because the DRM is stripped, the DRM often have many compatibility/integrity/security issues etc. that pirates never have to worry about. They are not forced to watch through FBI warnings before watching a movie.

The experience of downloading something is vastly superior to buying it in most cases, and that's assuming you can buy it at all (pirates don't have to wait/hope for a TV series to be released outside of US, for instance).

To add to the points made by previous responses, you can see for yourself the benefit of unencumbered files by ripping your own legally obtained Blu-ray movies. Once you have a DRM-free file on your hard drive, everything is better: there are no forced trailers, the movie loads nearly instantly (the standalone Blu-ray player I've used took about 5 minutes to load a disc), and seeking is practically instantaneous. You can even watch your legally obtained full-quality movies on non-HDCP-capable projectors and monitors.

For me, being able to avoid TV ads, forced movie ads, and ads on services like Pandora are some of the greatest advantages to piracy.

Furthermore, you know things like Bitrate before you download. On Netflix, you don't know how a movie has been compressed. Even 1080p movies can have noticeable quality differences depending on the method of compression. Using a private tracker, you can see the exact program and settings used before downloading.

They do pay for them: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pira...

Don't buy into the RIAA/MPAA lies. Piracy is not just about getting stuff for free.

The inferior part is the file format (DRM ridden and weird) and the convenience, not (usually) the sounds and the sights.