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Stitchawl · 05-04-2010, 09:59 PM

R&D costs money. A large corporate headquarters cost money. Company cars for top execs cost money. Printing fancy packaging costs money. Somebody has to pay for the corporate jet!

$500 for a copy of PhotoShop... (and that's the cheap version!) Really, just how many individuals can afford to pay a price like that? Especially individuals who live in countries were the average weekly salary for an office worker is under $50. In many countries it's under $25... In countries such as Thailand with the average weekly salary between $15-$30 USD even for a bank clerk or secratary, it's almost impossible to even FIND a legitimate copy of PhotoShop being sold, but you can find its pirated CD in every street market and in every computer mall, selling for a dollar or two.

Certainly Adobe wants to recoup the money it spends in R&D. Certainly it wants to make a profit. But didn't it already recoup it's expenses and make a profit? Now it want's more? It won't get it from people who can't afford $500 for software.

To print a book requires an outlay of cash for paper, ink, printing presses, wages for printers, binders, truck drivers, secretaries, etc., etc., etc. To keep printing, these companies must keep receiving cash. A lot of cash. The authors deserve royalties too. I think it's fair to charge the prices that paper books cost. A lot goes into them.

But an e-book doesn't have such continuing expenses. If an author is only getting a few cents per edition, and the edition already exists in a computer, how much does it really cost to maintain that computer web site? $10 per edition sold? I don't believe it. It's easy enough to set up a web-based business that will allow people to log into a site and download a product, still pay the author due royalties, still make a profit, but NOT need to charge $10 per file.

As long as software companies continue to charge high prices for their goods, as long as book companies continue to charge unrealistic prices for their files, as long a people try to make their business operate in the black in the first month of operation by charging excessively high prices for goods, many, many people will continue to deal with pirated files, P2P, torrents, etc. Not everybody thinks it's stealing. No more than most folks think taking an extra 15 minutes at lunch hour is stealing from the boss, taking home a ream of paper from the office is stealing, or shaving points of their taxes. If you take even a pencil from work, it is, in fact, STEALING.

All that changes is how we as individuals set our own personal bar for the crime. And that's called 'justification.'

Stitchawl

05-04-2010, 09:59 PM	#16
Stitchawl Opsimath Posts: 12,344 Karma: 187123287 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand Device: Sony PRS-650, iPhone 5, Kobo Glo, Sony PRS-350, iPad, Samsung Galaxy	R&D costs money. A large corporate headquarters cost money. Company cars for top execs cost money. Printing fancy packaging costs money. Somebody has to pay for the corporate jet! $500 for a copy of PhotoShop... (and that's the cheap version!) Really, just how many individuals can afford to pay a price like that? Especially individuals who live in countries were the average weekly salary for an office worker is under $50. In many countries it's under $25... In countries such as Thailand with the average weekly salary between $15-$30 USD even for a bank clerk or secratary, it's almost impossible to even FIND a legitimate copy of PhotoShop being sold, but you can find its pirated CD in every street market and in every computer mall, selling for a dollar or two. Certainly Adobe wants to recoup the money it spends in R&D. Certainly it wants to make a profit. But didn't it already recoup it's expenses and make a profit? Now it want's more? It won't get it from people who can't afford $500 for software. To print a book requires an outlay of cash for paper, ink, printing presses, wages for printers, binders, truck drivers, secretaries, etc., etc., etc. To keep printing, these companies must keep receiving cash. A lot of cash. The authors deserve royalties too. I think it's fair to charge the prices that paper books cost. A lot goes into them. But an e-book doesn't have such continuing expenses. If an author is only getting a few cents per edition, and the edition already exists in a computer, how much does it really cost to maintain that computer web site? $10 per edition sold? I don't believe it. It's easy enough to set up a web-based business that will allow people to log into a site and download a product, still pay the author due royalties, still make a profit, but NOT need to charge $10 per file. As long as software companies continue to charge high prices for their goods, as long as book companies continue to charge unrealistic prices for their files, as long a people try to make their business operate in the black in the first month of operation by charging excessively high prices for goods, many, many people will continue to deal with pirated files, P2P, torrents, etc. Not everybody thinks it's stealing. No more than most folks think taking an extra 15 minutes at lunch hour is stealing from the boss, taking home a ream of paper from the office is stealing, or shaving points of their taxes. If you take even a pencil from work, it is, in fact, STEALING. All that changes is how we as individuals set our own personal bar for the crime. And that's called 'justification.' Stitchawl Last edited by Stitchawl; 05-04-2010 at 10:01 PM.