Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
I think the problem here is that you and I have a fundamentally different understanding of a lost sale.
By my definition, a lost sale only exists when there would otherwise have been a sale to lose. So, since not all illegal down-loaders would have bought the book, not all illegal downloads are lost sales.
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The reason I think your definition is faulty is because without the illegal download, downloaders would've
had to have bought the book to get what they got. The illegal download made possible a function with the book that would've otherwise required a sale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
Human nature is human nature. When people are presented with a large amount of "free" stuff, they generally follow the same pattern of behavior whether the product is legally available or not. If something is available for "free," people are more likely to take it than if it has a price.
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This is true enough. People are more likely to take something that is free than they are to pay for it. So the existence of illegal downloads automatically draws people away from the sold e-books, because those who know about the illegal downloads are drawn to them first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
Every instance of theft is not automatically a lost sale and neither is every illegal download. Some are, some aren't. We're never going to know the exact breakdown, but arguing that all illegal downloads are lost sales is as foolish as arguing that none are.
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Every instance of theft is the taking of something for free which you would ordinarily have to pay for. The very taking of the item without paying for it is a lost sale, because otherwise, you'd have to pay for it to get the access you're getting. This is
especially true for e-books, because if you're really just curious about a book, you can download a sample. (Well, you can from Amazon. I assume B&N and other e-bookstores have the same functionality.) If people who did illegal downloading were really just curious to see
if they'd like a book, why not just do that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
Piracy impacts every industry's bottom line - but multiplying the number of downloads by the sale price isn't the way to calculate that impact. This is the real world where things are more complicated than that.
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You're equating a lost sale with someone who read and enjoyed a book. I don't think that's a reasonable way to calculate it. I'm suggesting that downloads are the way to calculate it, because the ability to download and read the content is the thing a buyer pays for. You have to pay for a paper book whether or not you liked it.