On #1, you are talking about rare instances of stores shutting down. Actually, when stores shut down or software publishers go out of business, consumers have problems that have nothing to do with DRM. Sure DRM doesn't help, but its just one incidental concern
On #2, see the article :
Quote:
Eleven of the 13 agreed with me that DRM is necessary to protect sales. Ten of the 13 agreed with me that DRM is not an effective deterrent to piracy. And 12 of the 13 agreed with me that DRM’s main benefit is to prevent casual sharing!
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1.The folks interviwed are publishing industry experts who know far about the publishing business than you or I, so their opinion should carry weight.
2. Its rather difficult to produce the evidence that large scale casual sharing could depress sales since with the DRM regime in place, large scale casual sharing isn't happening. You really are talking about probabities of what could happen when DRM is removed, and people can share books the way they share news articles. Based on my experience, people share news articles that they enjoy pretty readily. I believe ( and the publishers believe) that they would share books with equal frequency. Based on the experience of the music industry, people share files so readily that the music industry has given up trying to stop it-and music industry revenues have collapsed, largely as a result of that. Musicians no longer expect to make much money from sales of albums and singles-they tour in order to make a living thse days. And authors cant hold concerts.
3.As I'm sure you know, the fact that a book makes the best seller lists is not evidence that pracy hasn't had a significant effect on sales. It almost certainly made the list in spite of the effects of piracy. We don't know, because pirates don't release download figures.Commonsense tells me that piracy depresses sales, but I can't be certain.
4. Its quite possible that the publishers have examined the Baen/O'Relly models and decided that they can't work for them. If you read the article, they have definitely discussed going no DRM, and were open to the idea that casual sharing might spur sales of obscure authors, but the no DRM position hasn't won out yet.
5.Nobody has really shown that the average reader is even aware of DRM, has been significantly inconvenienced by DRM , or has been significantly damaged by DRM. I agree that DRM doesn't stop piracy. WE're focused on large scale casaul sharing.The music industry gives us real world experience of what happens when people get used to passing around music files like candy. It aint pretty for the music industry-50% fall in revenue with no end in sight.
Again, inf someone can show me WHY they think that large scale casual sharing wouldn't depress ebook sales, particularly of best sellers, I'm all ears. All I've heard is :
It won't happen. Honest, trust us.