Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Do you ever stop to think about who it is you're hurting when you illegally download such things?
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There is a good chance that he is hurting no one.
Hypothetical losses are irrelevant, and the only question that matters is whether he would have paid for the book that he downloaded if he could not have downloaded it. If not, then no one lost anything.
It might irritate an author, but the author didn't lose any money that he or she would otherwise have gotten. The author does gain something from an illegal downloader: exposure, word of mouth, recommendations, perhaps purchases of future books. From that perspective, illegal downloading may actually benefit the content creator.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Some "pirates" would have bought books that they downloaded if there had been no other ways, most probably would read something else (classics, free stuff, other books that are available for download). Happy "pirates" will probably recommend books that they downloaded and read, if they liked them, which does help authors.
DRM is a bit of a different topic, but I think it does more harm than it helps the content creators. It only helps the content distributors. DRM causes people to break the law (by removing the DRM) and once they are done chewing on the fact that they just did something illegal (which for a lot of people is a moral concern), the question
"If I have to do this just so I can use my paid books on all my devices, why don't I just download them straight away?" isn't really far off.
My answer to that question is that I want authors I like to continue to write, because I enjoy their works, so I buy their books. It's the most direct way I can achieve that. If I find a self-publishing author whose books I like, and they don't DRM their content, I'm very likely to buy everything they put out. If they use DRM, I feel that I'm not trusted and will spend less.
Similarly, if e-books from traditional publishers were cheaper, I'd be more willing to try out newer authors (or writers who are new to me) instead of sticking to those that are already favorites. Plus, if e-books were cheaper, or could be re-sold, I would overall buy more e-books and would contribute to the livelihood of more authors.
The inability to sell e-books "used" is a topic for a separate thread, but it is another relevant point that often gets glossed over: What about the rights of the buyer? What about the buyer's livelihood? All of us work for our money and survival. Why should the reader pay as much for e-books as for paper books and then, in addition, have their rights restricted? That's one of the may other sides of the same issue.