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<blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 4751012" data-attributes="member: 16077"><p>No, I'm arguing that WotC should accept that PDFs will be pirated and make allowances for it in their business plan. Accept that some people will not buy your book to get a free or cheap pdf and choose to pirate the pdf. Instead of trying to prevent pdf piracy, concentrate your efforts on selling your products to those who want to buy them, and offer value for the money that can't be matched by pirates. In the retail industry, it is called shrinkage and retailers know that it happens and it is a cost of doing business (IIRC, Walmart's shrinkage in 2007 was estimated at <strong>$3 billion</strong> - and they still managed to turn a nice profit.)</p><p></p><p>Does it really make any sense to turn down, say, 1,000 sales if you know that 10,000 pirated copies will also occur? If it were dead trees - absolutely. PDFs? You aren't out 10,000 books. You are out 10,000 copies of 1's and 0's that cost you nothing beyond the first copy. For physical product, it makes sense to minimize lost sales. For pdfs, you either lose 10,000 while selling 1,000 or you lose 11,000 while selling 0.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You are missing the point. The *media* and its distribution is the commodity, not the content. The content is still WotC's, they just weren't in total control of the distribution. In the early 3.x days, pirates had a better pdf than you could legally obtain because it was OCRed and fully indexed. The fact that their pdf was better was what drew people to download illegal copies. Until recently, WotC's current PDFs were just as good, but at a higher price point. It doesn't matter whether the distribution was legit or not - consumers chose them because they were better and/or cheaper. WotC *should* have seen it for what it was and produced pdfs that were either more value-added, or were at a lower price point. </p><p></p><p>I had no problem shelling out hundreds at a time for bunches of $5 pdfs at RPGNow or Paizo. I *did* have a problem paying for full-priced 3.5 pdfs. The go/no-go price point for me is around $15 (I think From Stone to Steel was the most expensive pdf I bought).</p><p></p><p>Regarding lost sales, see my response (above) to CardinalXimenes.</p><p></p><p>Now, I am biased regarding WotC's decision. If it were only 4e products, I wouldn't care since I don't play 4e. However, they've removed their entire back catalog. Back catalog sales are where your long-term profit is. Do a quick google search and you'll see that companies selling online <a href="http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/03/emusic-making-good-money-from-back-catalog.ars" target="_blank">music</a> <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6410191" target="_blank">and</a> movies <a href="http://www.hometheaterreview.com/av-news/audio-server-mp3-player-news/music_labels_ignore_blu-ray_for_back_catalog_and_focus_on_lower_resolution_downloads001243.php" target="_blank">make</a> a ton of money off of their back catalog.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="3catcircus, post: 4751012, member: 16077"] No, I'm arguing that WotC should accept that PDFs will be pirated and make allowances for it in their business plan. Accept that some people will not buy your book to get a free or cheap pdf and choose to pirate the pdf. Instead of trying to prevent pdf piracy, concentrate your efforts on selling your products to those who want to buy them, and offer value for the money that can't be matched by pirates. In the retail industry, it is called shrinkage and retailers know that it happens and it is a cost of doing business (IIRC, Walmart's shrinkage in 2007 was estimated at [B]$3 billion[/B] - and they still managed to turn a nice profit.) Does it really make any sense to turn down, say, 1,000 sales if you know that 10,000 pirated copies will also occur? If it were dead trees - absolutely. PDFs? You aren't out 10,000 books. You are out 10,000 copies of 1's and 0's that cost you nothing beyond the first copy. For physical product, it makes sense to minimize lost sales. For pdfs, you either lose 10,000 while selling 1,000 or you lose 11,000 while selling 0. You are missing the point. The *media* and its distribution is the commodity, not the content. The content is still WotC's, they just weren't in total control of the distribution. In the early 3.x days, pirates had a better pdf than you could legally obtain because it was OCRed and fully indexed. The fact that their pdf was better was what drew people to download illegal copies. Until recently, WotC's current PDFs were just as good, but at a higher price point. It doesn't matter whether the distribution was legit or not - consumers chose them because they were better and/or cheaper. WotC *should* have seen it for what it was and produced pdfs that were either more value-added, or were at a lower price point. I had no problem shelling out hundreds at a time for bunches of $5 pdfs at RPGNow or Paizo. I *did* have a problem paying for full-priced 3.5 pdfs. The go/no-go price point for me is around $15 (I think From Stone to Steel was the most expensive pdf I bought). Regarding lost sales, see my response (above) to CardinalXimenes. Now, I am biased regarding WotC's decision. If it were only 4e products, I wouldn't care since I don't play 4e. However, they've removed their entire back catalog. Back catalog sales are where your long-term profit is. Do a quick google search and you'll see that companies selling online [URL="http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/03/emusic-making-good-money-from-back-catalog.ars"]music[/URL] [URL="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6410191"]and[/URL] movies [URL="http://www.hometheaterreview.com/av-news/audio-server-mp3-player-news/music_labels_ignore_blu-ray_for_back_catalog_and_focus_on_lower_resolution_downloads001243.php"]make[/URL] a ton of money off of their back catalog. [/QUOTE]
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