Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
Well, the answer is PRICE, but you and most of the strong DRM defenders seem to ignore it.
Have you heard of iTunes? If the price is right, you get billions of paid for downloads. The target audience is the same one that you accuse being habitual thieves. Frankly, the price should be lower, since there is no physical media and relating costs. But the content providers keep pushing it up, despite Jobs' warnings it will drive piracy up.
Of course, as the price goes up, so does the portion of those who "pirate." Please explain to us, why a file served and sold, and often promoted, by Apple (at about 30% cost), should have the same, or higher price, as a physical track, which carries higher manufacturing, distribution and sales cost?
Remember the content industry's attempts to kill the VCR. After they failed, they made billions from selling tapes.
The business model has changed, but there is still money to be made. It just might not be by the same players as before. DRM is the last gasp of those who can't/refuse to evolve.
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I’m not a fan of DRM, I just believe its “evilness” is grossly overstated. And I also hold file-sharers (at least) partially responsible for contributing to its creation. I view the DRM issue as over-reaction by an industry that found itself both caught off guard and hemorrhaging – a result of mismanagement and shortsightedness.
And I’m certainly not defending the over-inflated cost of digital media, I totally agree that prices should come down, but I’m not willing to use current costs as yet another excuse to pirate.
As a Kindle owner, I’d love to see prices drop below $9.99 – somewhere in the five dollar range. But again, I will not accept cost as an excuse to pirate.