Quote:
Originally Posted by p3aul
Everyone has a right to an opinion. But I would like for someone to comment on this simile. >>Your concept is like me buying a hardback book; reading it, then taking it back to the dealer and saying "Here is this hardback book. I'm not giving it back to you but, because I've bought it, now I want the paperback version for free.<<
Then I'll shut up. Any takers?  |
Well, I definitely find I am being overcharged when, having bought the hardcover, I am asked for the same amount for the paperback as if I had not. I have already paid for the copyrighted material. Now I should have to pay just for the hardware. Suppose it is just the hardback. It breaks. I buy another. Why do I have to pay for the intellectual property again? I already did. Charge me for the hardware. So I wouldn't ask the paperback for free as you say but I would definitely expect some sort of price reduction. That is not wide expected because it has never been done, not because it is not fair. That is how it should be.
Suppose you are buying a nice ring for your wife. You find a little box you like in the same shop and buy it too. The jeweler puts the ring in the nice cute box and gives it to you.You pay for both, leave the shop, drop the box and break it. Feeling pretty bad, you go back in and ask for another box. The man kindly takes your ring, puts it in the new box and charges you for both again. How would you like that? Well, it happens all the time with copyrighted material and I see no writers (or musicians for that case) screaming outrage when their customers are abused.
On the other hand, it is coming to be that digital books, immaterial properties that are sold automatically by computers, are nearly as expensive, sometimes just as expensive and in some cases more expensive than a paper book I can buy at the bookshop, which has to be printed by somebody, distributed by some other, sold by a third, etc. This really makes me feel someone out there thinks I am dumb. That is his mistake.
As I see it, it is a free market so I have two choices: Not to buy or be abused to a point. That being so, can't feel very sympathetic to writers, they have the same choices: Not to publish or be abused to a point.
As for DRM, you should know it is an illusion. Doesn't work, doesn't protect doesn't deter. There is only one person affected by DRM: THE BUYER.