Read your post Nefer, but will reply to you directly later as I'm on the iPad. I just wanted to expand on my situation a little by explaining how my reading/watching habits go at the moment.
I like manga because there are less fillers in them and the majority of anime is based on a manga or light novel from what I've personally seen so it just seems to make more sense to see the original source. My only major exception to this preference has been Ghost in the Shell, whilst the manga was cool the anime series' gave me a hard-on.
However I personally find that manga is harder to acquire both legally and via piracy, I also feel that the quality of fan translations in manga are pretty poor in comparison to anime fan subs.
I like anime because action scenes really do feel like action scenes, and seeing the flow of combat in an anime that actually has flow, unlike Naruto/Bleach etc. where budget means manga-like fight scenes, really gets me hyped. The addition of music is also great as it enhances the experience and adds more to certain scenes. Not a big fan of watching anime adaptations of series' like Azumanga Daioh where animating it has little point in my eye since it's a series focussed more on what they discuss rather than their actions.
Anyway, money is not an issue for me, it's just time and convenience that are my reasons for wanting to discuss this on AUKN. I work seven days a week and I'm a pretty lazy fellow in general. When I get into a new manga or anime, I always pirate it first. If it's an anime, I watch it all and decide if it's worth ordering all the volumes, if it's a forgettable show I won't buy the DVD, if it's something I feel I will want to re-watch in e future I will buy it, usually in volumes and not the box sets as at the time they aren't available in a box set yet. I dislike box sets anyway.
With manga I read the first few volumes and if I like, I start collecting the tankobons assuming I can find them somewhere. Unlike anime I can't finish a manga before deciding to buy because nearly all seem to be ongoing series'.
Things have become more complicated for me after buying this iPad. The device, as overpriced as it is, is ******* win for reading manga and watching anime out of the house. Not having to carry around physical books, not worrying that my manga will get crushed in my bag (I'm OCD about keeping my items in perfect condition) and being able I'm carry my entire manga library in a device that weighs 500g is too damn convenient to bother with physical books anymore.
However I have to use pirate manga on my iPad since (for now) there is no legal store to buy my favourite manga digitally as far as I'm aware. So what do I currently do? I've recently started pirating ALL my manga and ordering the tankobons from Amazon even though I do not plan to read the physical books. I've been doing the same with my anime for years except with my DVDs as I've previously mentioned, I do intend to re-watch them again in the future.
Convenience, it's why I have an iPad in the first place, because of the convenience it offers in certain situations in my lifestyle, where I CBA lugging my Macbook Pro but my iPhone is too small to get the job done without a headache. It's also why I pirate, because it's quicker and easier,not because I can't afford the price of a picture book or cartoon. Why do I fee, retarded for buying manga j don't intend to read whilst reading the pirate fan translations for free? To support the creators and invest in their next release, probably the same reason most of you buy too, right? So why, when people like me are willing to pay but can't find a good digital library of manga, has to pirate something they would gladly pay for because the industry, much like the music industry as of late, are acting like dinosaurs and still think they have a right to get mad about piracy? Why am I supporting these backwards bastards?
I hear Samsung are releasing a good looking tablet very soon that will rival the iPad. I recommend checking it out because I honestly love reading my manga on a tablet and others may also fall in love with this convenience. Get a tablet, pirate all your **** until they start taking digital distribution seriously. I know some of you like owning your **** physically, but I'm at the point where my room is full of books that are numbered from 1-30 etc. taking up a load of real estate for just one bloody series.
Also two random notes. Firstly sorry if the are any weird typos, I blame Apple's bloody auto correction feature. Plus, I want to get into light novels like the FMP ones and Welcome to the NHK, I've never owned or read any light novels so would appreciate it if you guys could tell me where to get the best selections and deals online.