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Originally Posted by stonetools
sales of digital goods are somehow unaffected even if the exact same product is widely available for free (at which point the logical response is "WHAAA")
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And yet the bottled water industry makes billions. Even in books--Gutenberg editions sell on other sites.
"Free version available elsewhere in different packaging" doesn't prevent sales if the marketing is done right.
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Another way of putting that is that the anti DRM folks have not really made an effective argument as to why they should give up an admittedly imperfect method of protecting their IP rights against large scale casual sharing. Once you do, and suggest an effective method of protecting said rights , then they will be happy to give up their "security blanket".
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Do they have evidence that DRM is *increasing sales?* Nevermind whether it's "protecting their IP rights"--is it financially better for them?
I suppose, if protecting their IP rights is more important than sales, it could be argued that DRM is a good thing.
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Originally Posted by stonetools
My last post (Gotta go). Casual sharing is among friends, families and associates (including online associates).
Piracy is sharing among strangers.
I admit, the line could get fuzzy: but there is a line. Again, casual sharing with your Facebook friends is in completely different thing than lending your p book to your brother. Anyone who doesn't admit that is in denial.
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First you say casual sharing is online friends, then you say there's a difference between sharing with online friends & sharing with family members. Sounds like you're talking about three categories, not two: "piracy," which involves strangers, "casual sharing," which involves some level of connection between the people involved, and "intimate sharing" among people with strong connections.
DRM discourages (not prevents) the middle version; it doesn't prevent piracy, and it creates a lot of hassles among people with close connections--in order to share books, they have to share an account.
What evidence do you have that removing DRM would cause widespread casual sharing that would inhibit sales? The companies that have removed DRM or never had it, haven't seen a drop in sales afterward.