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Then why do they keep whining about how many millions of dollars they're "losing" to piracy? If those aren't lost customers, why do they care how much money they're not spending?
If the core issue is "how dare they read without paying us!" rather than "we're not making enough money!"--why aren't they screaming about used book sales?
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Storekeepers, too, whine about shoplifting/shrinkage-not about thrift stores. One is thievery, the other a legitimate market for used goods.
For bookstores, the core issue was "Amazon was discounting the value of the books below market price in order to drive competitors from the ebook market"-something you and most other MR people seem to pretend was not happening. Its why Google, the major publishers, and all the independent bookstores joined Apple to support agency pricing. Agaion, you seem to be in denial that MOST of the book industry backs agency pricing, and that these "overpriced" ebooks outsell by volume most of your "correctly priced" $2.99 books. Could it be that the average buyer is willing to pay for curation by the major publishers and the much greater assurance of quality? Maybe the major publishers (and authors, and independent booksellers)aren't just greedy and stupid all the time, but may actually know more about the business of pricing and selling ebooks than interested amatuers on the Internet? Could that be possible? Just sayin'.