As for the general piracy debate, this thread lacks structure. I'll try to break the topic into sub-topics such that the discussion is more focused and less generalizing.
The corelation of copyright infringement and sales is unknown and specifically, any form of causality is unknown. Therefore I state the following axioms for the break-down.
Axiom1: The goal is to maximize profits
Axiom2: The effects of piracy are unknown
Lemma1: The
goal is not to minimize copyright infringement. This may be a side-effect, though
Axiom2: There are customers that currently download illegal copies per default but that would acquire legal ebooks with the right deal
Axiom3: This only considers potential customers, i.e. people willing and able to spend money. Others who won't spend money practically irregardless of the situation/deal are excluded.
"Legend":
- Legal ebook: Bought from a bookstore, included with a physical book, free ebook, etc
- Illegal ebook: Format shifted version (illegal depending on local laws) or pirated version
I believe the following cases should cover most of the possibilities,
when you are looking to buy an ebook:
- No legal ebook version available (Case A)
At this point, there is no legal way to acquire an ebook
- You already own the physical book (Case A.1)
In this case, there is no lost sale.
- You download an illegal ebook/scan the book yourself (Case A.1.1)
There is no lost sale but the ebook may still be illegal, depending on local laws.
- You drop the ebook (Case A.1.2)
The customer may be disgruntled
- You do not already own the physical book (Case A.2)
- You buy the physical edition and download an illegal ebook/scan the book yourself (Case A.2.1)
In this case, there is no lost sale but the ebook is still illegal, depending on local laws.
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- You buy the physical edition and drop the ebook (Case A.2.2)
In this case, there is no lost sale but this option may not always be available: out-of-print or insane delivery times, weight and size restrictions for traveling and the like, search-ability is required, dictionary integration is required, special accessibility features are required, etc
- You download an illegal ebook (Case A.2.3)
This would be a lost sale. If the physical book is unavailable for purchase (out-of-print, price, etc), the customer only has the choice between copyright infringement and dropping the book altogether. For normal books, price may be a small issue but for technical books required for your studies, this can be a large problem you cannot evade.
- Legal ebook version vailable (Case B)
- The ebook is not DRMed (Case B.1)
There should be no problem here, except maybe the price or format, though without DRM, there should be multiple formats to choose from (Case B.1.1)
- The ebook is DRMed (Case B.2)
- The DRM has been cracked (ignoring platform for a minute) (Case B.2.1)
There is no lost sale but the cracked ebook may be illegal, depending on local laws (Case B.2.1.1)
- The DRM has not been cracked (Case B.2.2)
- The ebook is usable: Your platform (OS) is supported/the required reader is usable (Case B.2.2.1)
- The ebook is unusable (Case B.2.2.2)
In this case, you will have to download an illegal version or scan the book yourself. Else you can only drop the ebook
- You buy the DRMed/physical edition and download an illegal copy/scan the book (Case B.2.2.2.1)
There is no lost sale but the consumer still needs an illegal copy (depending on local laws), either downloaded or scanned
- You only download an illegal copy (Case B.2.2.2.2)
There is a lost sale here
- You buy the physical edition and drop the ebook altogether (Case B.2.2.2.3)
There is no lost sale here but the customer may be disgruntled
- You want both a physical and an electronic version (Case C)
Part of this is covered above but I'd still like to make it it's own case. For normal books, this would amount to the physical book for reading at home and the ebook for on the road.
For technical books, the physical is better for reading/studying where as the ebook is searchable and printable (hopefully) so that you can print the relevant parts and take them with you.
Ideally, you'd buy the physical book and get a CD with the ebook as well. This is the case for some technical books. However, books are sold as publications, not as content, so the ebook and the physical edition are counted as two separate books, not just different formats. For this, a small surcharge for a dual-version would be okay.- An ebook is included for the normal price (Case C.1)
Great deal for the customer, lost sale for the producer/publisher?- Ebook is in a usable format (OS, reader, etc)
- Ebook is not in a usable format
Again, you're stuck with an illegal download or cracking, depending on local laws, or scanning the book yourself. No lost sale, unless case C.1 is considered so.
- No ebook is included (Case C.2)
- Ebook available via small surcharge/as bundle (Case C.2.1)
This would probably still satisfy most customers (Case C.2.2)
- Ebook is completely separate
- You download an illegal ebook (Case C.2.2.1)
Is this considered a lost sale? After all, the customer has already bought the contents, just in an other format.
- You consider buying the ebook as well (Case C.2.2.2, leading to cases A and B)
The idea now is to:
- minimize lost sales as above
- capitalize on the group of axiom2
- generally increase exposure (you need to know about a book before you can download or buy it)
The net results of the cases overlap of course but the reasoning is different and so the solutions will likely differ as well