Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Unfortunately, the evidence does not support your belief.
Specifically, digital music has been available in DRM-free formats from at least 3 retailers (Amazon, Apple, eMusic) for about a year in the US -- much longer for eMusic by the way -- and I have yet to hear of any reductions or fall-offs in music piracy rates.
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The problem of piracy is not "how much of it exists." The problem is "how much it cuts into artists' & associates' profits."
There's no evidence that providing DRM-free, reasonably-priced (i.e. customers think it's reasonable) digital products do worse than the locked versions. Nor that having cheap, DRM-free digital versions cuts into physical sales.
The "problem" of piracy may well be fixed by having cheap, accessible digital versions. It may not cut into the amount of piracy, but the problem is not "how many people are copying this file," but "how many people who would pay, aren't paying right now."