That's the big draw of piracy for me as well - not that I can get out of paying for stuff, but that it's easier (by a mile) than trying to get it the legitimate way. Example: a few weeks ago, I wanted to catch up on The Strain before that night's episode. Went online to try to find a legitimate way to watch it, got blocked because my cable provider (Charter) wasn't on the list of blessed providers. Same story at Hulu. I wanted to watch it, and watch the ads, so they could get their revenue, because that's how the economy works. But they wouldn't let me, so I turned to PB and, after <5 minutes, had the full episode ready to watch with 0 advertisements.
Piracy will continue until there's an easier way to acquire and own content.
Interestingly, some technologies have made me take the opposite route. Now that I have chromecast, I find it more convenient to buy a movie on Google and cast it rather than pirate it and watch on a laptop.
Of course, you can open the video in a chrome tab and cast that, but I've found that's not as smooth. And nothing beats the convenience of a simple touch :)
Piracy will continue until there's an easier way to acquire and own content.