Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
The other issue is their understanding of Human Nature, to wit: The cheaper, the better, and Free is best. E-books are still too easy to pirate... and they believe prospective customers still find it too easy to get a copy of a book from someone they know, or from a pirate site. They expect to lose their shirts on pirated e-books, so they see it as too much of a loss to even be worth using as a loss-leader.
|
I wholeheartedly agree here. The big thing they seem to be missing, though, is that if the book has any popularity there is very likely going to be an electronic version of it out there whether they release one for sale or not. If someone really wants the ebook version and the publisher refuses to make it available, there's a good chance that they will feel downloading the pirate copy is justifiable.
Most folks I've talked to about illegally downloading music have no ethical problem with it. I know very few people with the level of ethical qualms about it that I see here. I don't expect books to be much different once reading devices become as common amongst the reading public as mp3 players are amongst music lovers. Sure, some people will always download stuff illegally, but I think most will buy the official copy if it's cheap and easy enough. Getting some money is better than getting no money.