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Originally Posted by Quexos
Therefore I believe selling food is morally wrong. But that won't stop companies from selling food because their interests come first.
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Where I am, people who can't afford food can get free food. It may not be the food they prefer, but it will sustain them; "preferred food" is optional and must be paid for. If people are willing to pay a premium for convenience, let them. When I pay for a pizza, I do so willingly, and I'm serving my own interests just as much as Papa Johns or Pizza Hut are serving theirs. No moral issue there - simply supply and demand.
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As for the non vitals, well I can understand that they want money for their works and creations and these should be worth some if they are good. Unfortunately it is human nature for each to defend their own interests.
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Entertainment items carry the highest price the market will bear. For some entertainment, the market is local, which is why one movie theatre might have a different ticket price than one of the same chain just 10 miles away. If someone wants a cheaper ticket, they can drive across town, or they can go to a matinée. Or they can stay home. People serve their interests by choosing the option they can afford and are willing to pay for. As long as a rate increase does not negatively effect projected profits, it is considered successful. The more expensive theatre stays in business because the location with the cheapest ticket prices is a reflection of its location - often not a favorable neighborhood.
Ebooks are not locally priced. New books in general are not locally priced, at least not on the scale of some other forms of entertainment. The regions are broken up by country (or larger) not by towns. And yet plenty of people buy them at the going rate. When someone chooses to download an illegal copy, they are not simply "serving their own interests". Not buying the book at all because they can't afford it would be serving their interests. Downloading a pirated copy instead of paying for it stems from a sense of entitlement.
The highest sustainable market price takes time to form, but I suspect it will never be as cheap as some would like. But there are options - different books have different prices, except most of the Agency 5 titles. There are hundreds of thousands of books published - choosing one that looks interesting within one's price range would be serving one's interests. No one is entitled to any given book in any given format. Entertainment has always been about "something for everyone" not "everything for everyone". There are a few select situations in which illegal downloading might be acceptable - in my opinion, pricing is not one of them because it's a variable unique to each individual.
As far as the original post, maybe it's because I'm an only child, but I don't feel a driving need to share my stuff with all my friends. I loaned out a book once. Once.