Let me explain: Someone, somewhere ends up putting out money for everything you do online, every piece of news you read, every Web app you use. It takes professionals and hardware across a gigantic industry to make these things work. In terms of overhead alone, content costs a lot. So why do some users always kick and scream at the first suggestion of paid content? Do you think content is worth paying for, and if so, what are you personally willing to pay?

As a journalist who came of age career-wise during the print era, and as a musician who first recorded songs on these things called "tapes," I understand the cultural value of great content, and I admire the men and women who make it. I also love being able to support the creators and publications that bring me the content I love.

On the other hand, as a typical NMD and one who lives almost entirely online, I have done my share of content scalping, whether it's lifting a copyrighted photo for a design project, illegally downloading a single or two from a multiplatinum artist, or diving deep into the world of torrents where all the films are gloriously free and inconveniently subtitled in Hungarian.

Like any petty thief, I tried to justify my actions to myself by saying that I'm only taking from those who can afford it. But let us speak frankly: The creative and publishing industries are all at a crisis point because of hundreds of millions of people like me who say the exact same thing. I've lately started to come to grips with my hypocrisy and started paying for content, whether that's a legitimate iTunes purchase or a Netflix subscription. I tell you, it feels like I'm giving money to a feed-the-children charity when I'm really just paying for something that should have never been free in the first place.

Today, YouTube has announced its plan to help indie filmmakers (and increase its own revenues) by asking users for a $5 fee to watch a selection of Sundance Film Festival movies. I'm wondering how many users will balk at the fee, and what will go through their heads when they do so.

Will they be thinking about the months or years each filmmaker spent creating the movie? Or the time the actors spent preparing for and performing their roles? Will they think about filming equipment rentals? Will they consider the cost of hosting online videos at a scale that accommodates huge volumes of traffic around the globe and around the clock? Will they think about the developers who work tirelessly to make the magic of online video possible?

Or will they simply knee-jerk and proclaim a loud "How dare they!" at the thought of paid content?

(As a side note, I'm also curious to see a Venn diagram showing the overlap of people who object to paying for online content while vigorously complaining about "distracting" online advertising.)

So, what's the difference between the analog days, when creators charged for their creations and theft was theft, and these digital times, when anything that's been transformed into ones and zeroes is fair game for free consumption, piracy, remixing and redistribution?

I'm curious: What kinds of online content, if any, are you willing to pay for? And how much will you pay for them?

Would you pay for news? Special, in-depth reports? Entertainment and multimedia? How about a blog subscription? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Photo credit: SFDenverLV.]

Before jumping to it, it may be smart to remind yourself of the legal issues currently facing both the Pirate Bay founders and perhaps more importantly, the non-commercial cases of Joel Tenenbaum and Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

Most recently, the Department of Justice upheld the award of 1.92 million dollars to the RIAA from single mom Jammie Thomas-Rasset. Minnesota woman Thomas-Rasset is expected to pay $80,000 per song for 24 KaZaA files she'd downloaded in 2004. The RIAA has gone after more than 20,000 people for music piracy, but has more recently chosen to focus on internet service providers rather than on non-commercial infringers. Depending on your country of residence, getting caught using the Pirate Bay archive file could be devastating.

If you're still curious, or you simply want to read the comments, the download page is available here.

Last week, CBC released an official DRM-free BitTorrent of a prime time show -- a first for a major north American broadcaster (see last100 coverage). Since then we’ve been getting hundreds of emails of support and one clear resounding message: give us more. This begs the question, why aren’t broadcasters doing more? Why in the year 2008, seven years after BitTorrent’s birth and a lifetime in Internet years is this a groundbreaking thing? Let’s break down what it takes to get a legal torrent going and maybe we’ll get some answers.

The post is worth a read, and be sure to subscribe to the Last100 RSS feed to keep up to date on all the latest digital lifestyle news and commentary.

Yes I know there are many legitimate reasons for doing so, but that's not always the reason for hitting up sites like The Pirate Bay.

When you begin a search on YouTorrent, you'll see the engine work in real time to display the results. The date, size, seeds, peers, and engine are listed for each torrent. By default the results are ordered by popularity (seeds and peers) , but you can quickly sort results by any of the other options just by clicking on the column header.

YouTorrent searches all the top torrent engines, including Mininova, The Pirate Bay, isoHunt, SumoTorrent, myBittorrent, Monova, Vuze, BitTorrent, LegitTorrents, SeedPeer, and BTjunkie. On the results page, you'll see a green check next to the ones where torrents were found. Underneath the listed engines, a related searches section can help guide you by providing similar queries to try.

Since the site has just launched, you can expect to see new features in the future like Boolean searches, advanced search, more engine selections, and a Firefox plugin (can't wait for this!), and maybe they will even finish their FAQ.

YouTorrent's design and clean user-interface makes this site one of the best torrent search sites I've seen. It's definitely worth checking out...just remember to buy the DVD later.