John, I sympathize with your position. However, you argue from the perspective of maintaining the status quo. This is untenable in the long term.
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Originally Posted by JohnClif
'fairly' means they get paid according to their terms, not yours.
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Sorry to be blunt, but this definition of fairness is becoming obsolete. This is exactly what is so painful about this transition: it shifts power to consumers in previously unimaginable ways.
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The customer's choice is to buy or not buy
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The flipside: the author's choice is to publish or not to publish. It will be a long time before anyone is
forced to make this choice vis-a-vis DRM, but I think it will eventually happen. I also believe the current players in the industry (authors, editors, publishers, etc.) will have to choose between adapting to the new conditions or facing irrelevance.
BTW, I'm not saying that any of this is either good or bad, nor do I purport to have answers to your questions. I'm just pointing out the facts...
- We are dealing with a new medium.
- The new medium upends many of the pricing/control/ownership structures that support its predecessor.
- The parties that have a vested interest in the old medium are throttling the new medium in order to preserve their interests.
- The historical record is not on the side of parties that have attempted this sort of throttling in other industries.
For the record, I've always payed for my books, music, films, etc., and plan to keep doing so even if I were able to download them for free. It is the honorable thing to do, and as a creator myself I know the hard work that is required to produce cultural artifacts. Do I think everyone will act honorably? No. Do I think most people will? Given a choice, yes.