Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
There is a third type, who look at free reads (whether authorised or not) as an ideal way to try out a writer they are not familiar with. Pre-internet they would have done the same thing at their local library or picked up a remaindered book, or a second hand one.
If they like what they read they will look for other things by that writer, and eventually they will start buying them new as soon as they are released because they don't want to have to wait.
I don't know what the percentages are, but those are the only type of downloader that really matters.
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I have to admit, I have pirated things before to test the waters of something. I have spent literally hundreds of dollars worth of music, that I would not have even heard of the bands, let alone heard their music, if piracy wasn't an option. Did I always buy what I downloaded? No, but the stuff I didn't, was the stuff I deleted and never used again. You can argue that isn't any better, since I still didn't pay for the things I didn't like, but if I could have sampled it any other way, I would have. Now, with the Amazon MP3 store, and iTunes, I can hear samples, so I haven't pirated music in a long time, but at the time, it wasn't possible to hear before you bought, if it was not played on the radio. On eBooks, I can see samples, and get an idea of stuff before I buy, even if it requires me driving to a book store and looking at a paper copy. Now that georestrictions are more common, I just have to hope I am allowed to purchase something.