Are Roms Legal?

Within the cannon of video games there are a few games that a true gamer must beat. The specific games which are in the cannon can be debated about for years to come. I am concerned about access to these works. With increase in bandwidth speeds piracy has become more wide spread. During the era of 56k users needed to get the most entertainment out of the bits. Emulators and Roms were a godsend during this time. An emulator was a major time commitment, but after that initial investment the Roms were quickly downloaded and would provide hours of entertainment.

Today however, bandwidth is relativity cheap. Yet, piracy of classic games have taken a back seat to the piracy of movies and television. A good pirate can have a steady stream of entertainment. Time spent downloading equals hours entertained. For example if a pirate downloads a movie of average length, it should take about 90 minutes. Offsetting these downloads will allow the pirate constant entertainment.

Downloading Time = Entertainment Time

During the 56k era, Roms and emulators provided the same ratio of entertainment and download time. The piracy of this kind of entertainment is less harmful to businesses because many of these games are entering into the public domain. Yet, the method of distribution for these Roms is being choked by governmental lawyers.

Torrent Sites, providing both legal and non-legal services are being forced to shut down.

How can new gamers experience these texts with the distribution of emulators and Roms being attacked by the government and classic consoles and cartages becoming more of collector items, which fetch a healthy price? What is a poor gamer supposed to do but break the law?