Yes, obviously. I really don’t see how one could possibly sympathize with this argument. Say I go to a bakery and I only “sort of” want a cookie. I’m not hungry enough to pay for it, so I just take it, and claim “I’m not actually stealing because I wasn’t going to pay for it anyway“.
You could claim it’s different with digital goods, but it’s not. Money still went into making that good (whether that’s software or a movie or even just a picture) and you’re still getting the benefits of owning that good without paying for it. Put another way, how does not caring enough about something entitle you to ownership?
So you are absolutely stealing whether you would “have paid for it“ or not.
What if most of my enjoyment of a cookie is looking at all of the pretty designs and crafty details on the cookies, and I don’t actually care that much to eat them. Is it stealing to go into a bakery and look at the cookies, then leave? I’ve gotten all of my enjoyment for free, after all!
You might be satisfied, but you only consumed a component of the work that the creator explicitly offers for free while refraining from consuming the component that requires payment. Just like browsing an art gallery: I'm satisfied seeing a painting in the gallery location, which is a freebie, and I don't care about also seeing it in the location of my choice, which has a price tag.
You could claim it’s different with digital goods, but it’s not. Money still went into making that good (whether that’s software or a movie or even just a picture) and you’re still getting the benefits of owning that good without paying for it. Put another way, how does not caring enough about something entitle you to ownership?
So you are absolutely stealing whether you would “have paid for it“ or not.