Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
I think that for digital downloads it's more important to tailor your DRM scheme (or lack thereof) toward building sales than preventing piracy. What do you think?
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The unanswered question is just how big a problem piracy actually
is.
For physical objects, you can tell what the losses are to theft (called "shrinkage" in the retail trade.) You subtract the number sold from the total number ordered, then you compare the result with how many you actually still have. If you stocked 100 units, sold 20, and have 70 still on hand, 10 of them went
somewhere...
For electronic downloads, there may be piracy, but you can't know for certain, and there is no way to tell how much or what effect it actually has on sales.
The RIAA and the MPAA cry the blues about it, and lobby for more laws and stricter punishments, but all they can point to is declining sales of CDs and DVDs. There's no real
proof that sales are down because people who might otherwise have bought pirated instead. (Nor does there seem to be any awareness among RIAA and MPAA members that sales efforts, quality of product, and pricing might be a factor in whether people buy.)
My personal feeling is that piracy exists, but the majority of the market is basically honest and willing to pay for value. You simply need to
provide value, and make it as simple as possible for the customer to give you money.
To that end, I'd say drop DRM and concentrate on increasing sales. DRM is at best an annoyance to the customer, and at worst a disincentive to buy. The last thing you want to do is is provide
any impediment to the customer giving you money.
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Dennis