YouTube - Piracy "Doesn't Really Matter"

I've been involved in a YouTube discussion on Om Malik's blog, where he likens YouTube to Napster.

While YouTube may indeed be facing legal dangers as people realise the amount of copyrighted material it contains -- you can't deny how convenient this type of service is. The public demands mini-snippets of video, tagged and categorized (and not linked to a single studio or broadcasting company) -- and the industry has yet to respond.

For instance, look how easy it was for me to settle an argument using YouTube. I was listening to JPop radio when a track called Papillon by Hitomi Shimatani started playing. (Let me just save Loz the trouble of making a cheeky comment by saying -- I'm happily in touch with my inner-child. It just so happens that my inner-child is a 13-year old Japanese girl.)

Anyhow, my friend said 'Is that Janet Jackson singing in Japanese?'. I replied that it probably just sounded like Janet Jackson, but it also sounded like every other JPop song ever made.

Well, a quick Google search proved me wrong. But since seeing is believing I was also able to compare both videos on YouTube:

Hitomi Shimatani - Papillion
Janet Jackson - Doesn't Really Matter

That's why I love the age we live in, information and media access only a few clicks away. And should I have to pay $1.99 for each video when I just want to settle a score? I don't think so.