1. Secret Documents

Torrent Contents. Anytime Anywhere. Jay Sankey - Anytime Any.mp4. Secret Files. Jay Sankey - Sankey's Secret Files Vol 1.avi 683 MB; Sleight Of Hands - Secrets of Card Magic. Jay 2of3 Sankey - Sleight-of-hand Secrets part two.avi 474 MB; Vol. Jay 3of3 Sankey - Sleight-of-hand Secrets part three plus.

Let me preface this by stating that I am not implying, nor ever would, that any of you pirate magic or look up magic tutorials on YouTube. I'm merely speaking out on the topic, one of which I'm very passionate. Pirating is theft. There's no nicer way to say it, that's just the facts. If you go in search of a free download of a magician's instructional DVD or you scower YouTube for a tutorial of that new effect you saw, you're stealing from the artist. That artist often completely relies on the public purchasing his or her product.

I'm not here to discuss the legal side of all of this, just the ethical side. Five years ago I had my first commercial release, an ebook download called The Destiny Effect. I eventually discovered a magic exposure forum where members were openly sharing my ebook for free and discussing my method. I joined the forum just to ask them to remove it and, to my surprise, they actually did. But that whole incident bothered me. I didn't care about the fact that I 'lost some sales' because, the fact is, these people probably weren't going to buy my ebook anyway. I just felt it was a blatant disrespectful move against my work.

They treated my method as something so disposable, or worthless. I, however, am not making my living selling ebooks.

What I AM doing right now is using that money to save for my post-secondary studies which are costing me more than I anticipated. But in terms of piracy, the biggest underlying issue for me comes from a standpoint of ethics. By downloading an album or movie for free, you are not supporting the artist you supposedly like, you are spitting in their face. On my iPod, every song and album has been purchased from the iTunes Store. I understand not everyone is in a financial position to be able to do that.

With all due respect, Professor Boyd, your argument is not at all compelling. It seems that you are taking the 'thinking outside the box' (TOTB) metaphor much more. 'Me and my magic buddies have been Sankey fans for years. Last night we took a vote and the majority agreed that there is more serious magic on 'Secret Files' than any other of Jay's discs.' -Bailey Grier. 'Not only do you learn awesome tricks but they're taught by one of the coolest and funniest magicians around.

Secret Documents

Which is where a typical counterargument comes in. When debating the topic of piracy with magician friends, the inevitable argument they pose is: 'So, you're saying because I don't have a lot of money that I can't learn magic?' The fact is, there are PLENTY of ways to learn great magic on little to no money. Me personally, I'm on a really tight budget now that I'm attending theatre school and I truly do not have extra money to spend on magic. How do I get around this? OPTION 1: THE LIBRARY Public libraries always have at least a few magic books.

Yes, some of them are beginner's books, but I even recommend going through those. You'll often find a hidden gem or two. Additionally, there have been a few times exploring a library where I have found magic books you typically wouldn't find available to the public. But they're there, just waiting for you to find them. OPTION 2: CREATE YOUR OWN MAGIC Creative mileage may vary, but it's a simple matter of sitting down with a deck of cards and working out your own methods and your own effects. Not only will you be able to do magic for free, but you could be doing stuff that no one else is doing.

OPTION 3: FREE MAGIC ONLINE This stuff is literally everywhere. Many magicians release free videos, ebooks, and downloads of their magic, and it's 100% free and guilt-free to learn. Just look at Theory11's 'The Wire' and the amount of free downloads that are already available to you there. OPTION 4: CONTESTS These are also everywhere, and this is probably my favourite, and most-used, option. This way, you can not only get the latest and greatest magic, but even have fun trying to win it.

This is no exaggeration: In the past year, I have won over $2000 worth of free magic. Thing is, these contests are everywhere you look and you'd be surprised at how often you win. It's either the odds of winning are better than they seem, or I'm just ridiculously lucky. In any event, you can potentially win prizes worth hundreds of dollars for doing something as simple as answering a question or making a short YouTube video. So simple, and so awesome. Enter EVERY CONTEST YOU SEE, even if you don't think you have a chance of winning. I tell you, it's really paid off for me.

OPTION 5: PUBLIC DOMAIN MATERIAL There is SO much magic out there in what is considered 'the public domain', meaning the material can be legally distributed for free. A prime example of this is perhaps the bible of card technique, The Expert at the Card Table by SW Erdnase. You can go download a copy for FREE right now and it's totally legal. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. There are TONS of publications that are free to enjoy and learn from.

Look up The Learned Pig Project for a large collection of such material. There you have it.

Four perfectly legitimate reasons why magic piracy is totally unnecessary. The only excuse someone has for pirating magic is laziness, and that's no way for a performer to be. Work hard, and keep your eyes peeled.

There's magic everywhere just waiting for you to discover it, and you don't even have to open your wallet. I think I am internet pirate or what I should call myself, because. I will say something about me. OPTION 1: THE LIBRARY - In my country there is no magic books in library, I was in the biggest library in the capital city and they don't have any of magic books. OPTION 2: CREATE YOUR OWN MAGIC - That's very cool. I just start creating something new and I like it.

OPTION 3: FREE MAGIC ONLINE - That is good too, but I have all of these tricks. I like when people are putting new tricks in the wire, the last trick was just great. (with two rubber bands) OPTION 4: CONTESTS - You are very lucky guy. Gaeb Viewer Ohne Installation Manual.

I have entered tons of guess the card contests, but I never won. I enter, as you said, in every contest that I see, but the bad part of this is that there in YouTube are lot of fake contests. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Free Download Full Version. I have won in four or five contests, but just one guy really send me cards. ( just one deck) OPTION 5: PUBLIC DOMAIN MATERIAL - I didn't understand this paragraph, but thanks for advice. I have nothing to read right now and I didn't know that you can get so many ebooks for free.

I just found this site - What is The Learned Pig Project? Yea, actually, you are right, if you are not lazy you can find free stuff. I have a question - If T11 now about a YouTube channel that reveal their magic, they can delete this channel? I couldn't agree with you more about piracy. However, and it's a BIG however, I do have one thing to add to the topic.

But first let me say what pirating will do: It will make you a horrible magician/entertainer. We cherish the things that mean most to us, especially if we paid a pretty penny for it. What we don't pay for, we toss it aside with little to no play time.

Hope that makes sense. Now, let me tell you why I LIKE torrent sites. When I was in the Marine Corps, I was stationed in Iraq and after a long while of being out there, I had my (at the time) wife and mother, send me all of my magic DVDs. I knew I was going to be out there almost a year, so I wanted to continue to learn when I did have free time.

Leave out for a convoy to escort some stuff, and our base gets bombed. We come back to our living quarters in utter ruin. ALL of my DVDs including all of my magic dvds, were completely destroyed. I can't remember the exact number, but it was close to 80 or so DVDs.

(Just the magic ones). Now we all know how much magic DVDs cost. That is a TON of $$$$$. Michael Ammar caught word of what happened and ended up sending me all of his dvds, which was part of what was lost. As did Michael Finney. So what have I used torrent sites for? Getting back the magic that I used to own.

So while it sucks to have material stolen, and I do fall under that category.it has also been a blessing to be able to get what I used to own at one time, back. I'm more or less, with Option 5, referring to resources that are legally free to access. There's tons of material that falls under this category. Much of it is from at least 50 years ago but that's often where you find the best 'hidden gems'. Thanks so much to all for commenting. Remember, and this goes for everyone, that you may not likely be well suited to EVERY option. (Jebzy, for instance, doesn't have access to magic books in his local library).

However, the options are just that. I defy anyone to tell me that they cannot make use of any of the five options I've listed above. Here's a great place for contests: Twitter. Follow people like Jay Sankey and Elmwood Magic, who have contests all the time! Hankins, I very much appreciate your story and it sounds to me like you've made an ethical use of 'torrented content'.

It sounds weird to use the word 'ethical' and 'torrented' in the same sentence, but in your case, you have not shared the material with anyone else and you lost it for a perfectly legitimate and unfortunate reason, so you're simply viewing material you technically paid for anyway. I daresay you come across as an exception. ENTER: Devil's Advocate (or so some say) The evangelic spirit around piracy, copyright issues, intellectual property, et al has, on some level, existed for centuries.

The on-set of the Tech Revolution and the Internet specifically made such antics far more prolific and too, the very vehicles that make it easy for any child to poop out an ebook are the same double-edged dagger that allow the 'Pirates' to get away with what they do... And by the way, Whining About It Won't Stop It!

I've been a published writer since I was 14 (that would be 1974ish) and I have found copies of the various things I've written as recently as the late 80s, on torrent sites and all the other pain in the hinney situations. I've also seen some of my material in public libraries totally without my permission or, as the crux of this argument really focuses on...

Without my cut. This is the real reason for this sort of article, young writers being pissed because they aren't getting their shinny nickel. I know that sound crass (no pun intended) but it's more the heart of the truth than concern over general counterfeiting, which in many ways is the actual issue; people making copies of material and either posting to a file-share site or worse, using them as a mode of personal currency -- aside from the eBay games that used to be horridly common, we have those in the forums (one rather large green monster in particular) making off the board deals via IM and SKYPE... I have this and this, what do you have?

It's akin to trading baseball cards when I was a kid. ALL of the above are illegal, criminal acts -- PERIOD! What about the guy that innocently lends a book to a friend here and there?

Some would include this on their list of examples when it comes to 'Piracy' when in truth, it is a common part of society and being A PART OF a community. NO, that doesn't mean I'm going to allow some newbie to borrow a $260.00 book or even a $100.00 on advanced aspects of Mentalism.

They may think they deserve access, but no they don't. No One deserves free reign access to materials that are beyond their present level of experience and comprehension. However, they do deserve access to stuff that is closer to their level and ability.

I say it this way because of both, how my various teachers worked with me over the years and how I likewise work with others in the present. When it comes to that more expensive book however, I might lend it to an equal, someone I know will most likely purchase it on down the road.

I may even scan a section from the book (a given routine) that I believe will work best for a client... And News Flash, that's all a part of doing business as usual. There are those that claim that I would have to buy a copy of any given book, if I'm using material from it, for every member of my show & production staff.

A rather anal course of thought that brings us back to that Shiny Nickel problem mentioned earlier; but I have to ask, are we really getting this ignorant when it comes to so-called 'copyright protection'? I keep an eye out for illegal distribution of materials put out by friends of mine and send them an eMail every few months listing sites where such copies are to be found. They appreciate it, send the typical note telling the site to remove their material. The site will remove the material and move it to one of their sister sites or else save it for when they put up a new file share site... It's a perpetual beast and as several high profile contributors have pointed out, it's the cost of doing business in today's world; a COST that's passed on to every one of you by way of higher prices -- we know that we have just over 8 weeks to make our money from anything we put out there PRIOR to it hitting the torrents and those back of the room deals so many make (though all of them will deny doing so). There is a Morality to Sharing Materials that our various aspiring writers fail to understand. Again, I'm not talking about mass distribution and nonchalant file sharing where anyone and everyone has access to our secrets, but rather the act of casually lending a book to a member of our peer group, someone we're taking under wing, or as I've already noted, people involved with a project we're working on (it cost more than enough to produce a show these days without having to address such preposterous demands; besides, that's why we have secrecy agreements).

I've dealt with this argument for years because certain bozo's see what I'm saying as being 'theft' (damned Shiny Nickels). Part of their contention stems from the fact that in today's world we can electronically 'lend' books to people thousands of miles away and avoid snail mail to do so -- just eMail an electronic version of said tome. My argument goes back to that good neighbor policy that we were all (supposedly) taught in our toddler years -- sharing your toys is proper, being selfish is wrong -- that silly premise upon which the Public Library system was built... There's another can of worms.​ Imagine what the reaction would be within the magic community if someone like me, donated all of his magic library to the local public library upon their death It's happened!

That's how libraries usually end up with books -- donation. Remember that $260.00 book I mentioned earlier? It would suddenly be available to any person off the street and I can assure you, this particular book has far more than enough to start a new religion. But am I wrong to bequeath my personal property -- material I either paid for or was gifted to me by the author -- am I wrong to make such a donation and why? The ONLY argument here is that blasted Shiny Nickel which will be obfuscated by way of the Intellectual Property and Trade Secret angle.

There's no copyright infringement whatsoever, just a minor inconvenience to persons that think they are creative contributors to the craft as well as those that think they are genuine showmen. Yes that's a rather rude way of putting it, but look at who *****es the most when it comes to this issue; not the big names we all recognize but those that are clawing their way up the ranks, trying for short cuts vs. The mode of establishing one's name in a positive way before listening to their ego and pooping out a Lulu special. Yes, the truth hurts, but we need to call a spade a spade in this case and HONESTLY consider the whole picture and not just one small aspect of the issue. Based on the arguments so many put forth when it comes to piracy, we're all guilty. ONE LAST QUICK POINT HOWEVER: Have you ever pondered why Piracy of Magic is so rampant? We're still talking about a Supply & Demand situation and if there were no demand there would be no supply.

So who's putting the material out there and who is sucking it up? It's not just the newbies and folks ignorant of the piracy & copyright thing.

Because of my personal health issues, I rely on my book sales too. I also know that I'm loosing out on a hundred or two bucks a month (if that) because of these torrent sites, etc. But I, like all other writers in a niche industry, am powerless for the most part. Click to expand.This one is really debatable because it reminds me too much of listening to Michael Bay fantards telling me if I don't like Transformers I should make my own damn movie. Now, I'm curious what the discussion value here is supposed to be as this is hardly a controversial opinion you're taking, the moralizing is going to prompt most to post agreements and even though Craig has the stones to play devil's advocate, I suspect most won't be prepared to address his points. Is this suddenly a vogue issue again and I just wasn't paying attention? If you'll forgive me being obtuse for a second, I do have a question to everyone reading this thread.

I assure you I'm going somewhere with this. What is value? Click to expand.Value is something that is worth something.

That's pretty dry definition, so I'll toss in my own thoughts into the issue. Value is something that is placed on an object, knowledge, or anything really.

In one way or another, it can be shared, expressed, and in some instances exchanged. The value doesn't have to be monetary, as it can be sentimental or any others. On a side note, the value each person varies depending on the perspective a person has.

Jerry's Nugget Deck could mean 350 dollars for a deck collector or could be more. On the contrary, ordinary person, it may be worth 5 dollars, as a deck of cards is a deck of cards is a deck of cards. I am curious about where you are going with this though. Not a bad answer. There are three really big things to remember about value: 1. Value is changing all the time.

It's subjective. Value is not a constant in all situations and locations. It's separate from price. I actually blame the magic community as a whole for the current level of piracy and secret swapping. We've swamped ourselves in cheapo ebooks and no-strings production DVDs. It's gotten to the point where we're so inundated with material that it's lost its value.

Methods are now a dime a dozen. Material is so unreliable in terms of quality, piracy seems like the most sensible route. At the same time we're maintaining a business model that says if you're going to put something in a book, make it expensive. So we have high prices, but diminished value in a market that demands the best whenever they want it and for whatever price the feel like. It's the perfect situation to foster piracy. Click to expand.value noun, verb, valued, valuing. Relative worth, merit, or importance: the value of a college education; the value of a queen in chess.

Monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade: This piece of land has greatly increased in value. The worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium of exchange. Equivalent worth or return in money, material, services, etc.: to give value for value received. Estimated or assigned worth; valuation: a painting with a current value of $500,000. Or did you mean in philosophy, where value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why and to what degree people value things; whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else. The values we assign to actions to bring us closer to moral conduct and the 'good life' and if those values are intrinsic, extrinsic, relative or absolute? Value noun, verb, valued, valuing.

Relative worth, merit, or importance: the value of a college education; the value of a queen in chess. Monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade: This piece of land has greatly increased in value.

The worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium of exchange. Equivalent worth or return in money, material, services, etc.: to give value for value received. Estimated or assigned worth; valuation: a painting with a current value of $500,000. Click to expand.Oh, I see, you're just copying and pasting Wikipedia. How ironic in a thread about stealing other people's work!

The concept of 'value' is, despite my somewhat harsh and sarcastic preface, is important to this discussion. People do not give something away free (i.e., without any sort of remuneration) if they perceive it to have value. That, as I understand it, is part of the definition of 'value'. So, there are two possibilities. One is that those who share copyrighted magic resources don't consider it to have value. The other is that they are receiving sufficient remuneration for the material, or for their efforts in sharing it. I discount the first possibility, as, in most cases, to share a magic resource free of charge entails paying for it from a legitimate source first.

For everything that is shared free online, someone paid out their own money, but still decided to share it for free. On that basis, the second possibility must obtain.

In other words, the original sharer must consider that they're receiving some form of remuneration. As this isn't money, presumably it's in the form of goodwill from a sharing community, or possibly the kind of emotional response garnered from 'doing a good deed'. So, we can infer that file-sharing is perceived, by some people, as an almost charitable gesture. From this, we can glean that the current fight against piracy is founded on an incorrect principle.

It's presented as a fight against criminals, whereas the people who are perpetrating it don't see themselves as such. They see themselves not as villains, but as magnanimous philanthropists. The solution, therefore, is not to alienate these people by condemning them, but to appeal to their main motivating impulse. This impulse is, clearly, goodwill and charity. So, the most effective approach would be to 'convert' them to the cause of sharing information which is already public domain but which is rare and not well-known. By decrying what they do as crime, we create an 'us and them' battle which can never be won. Click to expand.Definition, maybe but what's the 'actual meaning'?

Some actions are valued by people intrinsically; that no remuneration is necessary. I like to listen to jazz - not for any reward, remuneration, or anything extrinsic.

The listening itself has value, despite the lack of remuneration. Craig Browning posts here often, and for what?

He shares a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge. I would guess that he places value in sharing his knowledge, not necessarily in being compensated. @Steerkpike Thank you for your input. I sometimes do overlook time changes value, as obvious as it is, it's the one I usually forget. Along the line of fostered environment for piracy, I tend to agree with that for the most part. I think you may also be able to entertain the idea is that some magicians do charge more for the barrier of entry.

Just simply by the fact our art is built around secrecy, the barrier tends to be higher. As someone who is tight on funds, this places a pressure on me, and needless to say, magic is rather expensive hobby. (On a side note, I do feel like some effects are overpriced for unjustifiable reason, but what can I do.) @Mike Hankins I am not sure such generalization can be made. Sometimes, once people realize how complicated a certain gimmick is, they might feel more inclination to purchase the effect. This, I cannot prove, but it may be something. For non-gimmicked effect, it's difficult to say.

Some effects are tossed around in every DVD that it's hard to say it's the torrents that's decreasing the sale. It could just as easily be similar effect that's decreasing that DVD's sale. @JButterfield I think you overlooked something. Value isn't 'just' material things.

Such thing as sentimental values exist. Posting on forum does not lack value. If it provides a good discussion, it created a good value (in my mind anyhow). When I give opinion about a certain topic, the forum provides a floor for my opinion. That in itself has value. When someone takes my idea to heart, that supplies me with a positive emotion, hence becoming a value. I am not saying Craig is doing it for any of those reasons.

I can't speak for him, but my point is that posting in internet forums do hold a certain degree of values. In your example, you have pleasant feelings when you listen to jazz. It's your remuneration, because if it didn't produce those emotions, you wouldn't listen to jazz, as I do not. Lastly, sometimes there are two different meanings to a word. Denotative and connotative.

Dictionary meaning vs. Implied meaning. For example, happy, elated, joyful, they all describe similar emotion, and have very similar dictionary meaning, but the implications are slightly different depending on various factors including but not limited to geography, social settings, and context. I think that's what TeeDee was getting. Sorry for going all philosophical, but thought I'd share some of my thoughts. @Steerkpike Thank you for your input. I sometimes do overlook time changes value, as obvious as it is, it's the one I usually forget.

Along the line of fostered environment for piracy, I tend to agree with that for the most part. I think you may also be able to entertain the idea is that some magicians do charge more for the barrier of entry. Just simply by the fact our art is built around secrecy, the barrier tends to be higher. As someone who is tight on funds, this places a pressure on me, and needless to say, magic is rather expensive hobby. (On a side note, I do feel like some effects are overpriced for unjustifiable reason, but what can I do.) @Mike Hankins I am not sure such generalization can be made. Sometimes, once people realize how complicated a certain gimmick is, they might feel more inclination to purchase the effect. This, I cannot prove, but it may be something.

For non-gimmicked effect, it's difficult to say. Some effects are tossed around in every DVD that it's hard to say it's the torrents that's decreasing the sale.

It could just as easily be similar effect that's decreasing that DVD's sale. @JButterfield I think you overlooked something. Value isn't 'just' material things. Such thing as sentimental values exist. Posting on forum does not lack value.

If it provides a good discussion, it created a good value (in my mind anyhow). When I give opinion about a certain topic, the forum provides a floor for my opinion. That in itself has value. When someone takes my idea to heart, that supplies me with a positive emotion, hence becoming a value. I am not saying Craig is doing it for any of those reasons. I can't speak for him, but my point is that posting in internet forums do hold a certain degree of values.

In your example, you have pleasant feelings when you listen to jazz. It's your remuneration, because if it didn't produce those emotions, you wouldn't listen to jazz, as I do not. Lastly, sometimes there are two different meanings to a word. Denotative and connotative.

Dictionary meaning vs. Implied meaning. For example, happy, elated, joyful, they all describe similar emotion, and have very similar dictionary meaning, but the implications are slightly different depending on various factors including but not limited to geography, social settings, and context. I think that's what TeeDee was getting. Sorry for going all philosophical, but thought I'd share some of my thoughts. Click to expand.You may be right.but I am speaking on personal experience. A magic shop I used to go to, there was this guy.an idiot of a guy, who used to pirate magic DVDs and then sell them to the kids and even some adults for a smallllll smalllll fee.like $5 a pop.

Never saw a good performance out of any of them. But once that idiot of a guy got kicked out of that shop for what else, stealing.these kids and older gentlemen were given better direction and started paying for their magic. They all improved.

That isnt just my opinion either. Michael, it is for this exact reason that I posted.

I do have to aknowledge what was said earlier. I made referance to buying used magic, this is not always ethical. I remember within a day of my first Wire release there were already threads on a couple other sites talking about my method. As a personal rule I make sure that anything that I perform, whether for friends or for money is something I have bought or have the 'rights' to. Another thing is clubs. I never discuss methods, it is almost like some of the guys in the local clubs feel the need to make it into a show and tell of methods.

I have chosen, in general, never to discuss methods. Exceptions abound but I really try to steer clear of discussing methods. Goatears, I am the exact same way.

Unless I have the right to perform it, I don't. Purchasing used magic is iffy for me. I will be the first to admit I have sold a few books and DVDs.

However, the books and DVDs that I have really learned valuable material from, stuff that I use or have used, are still in my library. The only books and DVDs I've sold are the ones I've barely touched, the ones that just weren't for me. Typically, though, the rule of thumb is to only sell an actual effect as, in theory, once you've sold the prop you can no longer do the effect. Obviously some effects may be 'rebuilt' by the selling magician, so this too is a bit iffy.