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<blockquote data-quote="Nom" data-source="post: 3873651" data-attributes="member: 56980">Groups and WatermarkingA decent watermark will allow a non-DRM PDF to be shared within a family.&nbsp; I'm not going to bat an eyelid at sharing a PDF that prominently and frequently features my D&amp;D account name (or, at the extreme, even my credit card details) with wife.&nbsp; There's no way I'm going to share it more generally, though.This technique wont work as well for paid-DDI integration.&nbsp; One way to handle this would be to allow a small (2? 3? 5?) number of paid-DDI accounts to access the database from a single book code, but all secondary codes must be paid for by the secondary user and verified manually from the main account within 15 minutes of being registered.&nbsp; Secondary codes would not give access to the PDF (you get that directly from the primary user), merely the database integration.&nbsp; Easy to allow a small number of registered users, but any misuse can easily be handled by clicking the 'report as suspicious' rather than 'accept' button.&nbsp; The main user should also be able to deregister any secondary accounts.As for sample copies, the SRD actually fulfils that role rather well.&nbsp; I returned to D&amp;D at the time of the 3.0 -&gt; 3.5 switch, and did so because I was able to read the SRD rules and think &quot;hey, they've made some serious improvements here&quot;.As for printed book + PDF vs PDF, you need to ask yourself whether what you want is the convenience of having the book as a PDF and don't care about the hard copy (in which case just buy the whole package and leave the book in a box somewhere) or whether you actually want the book at a significant discount by just buying the PDF.&nbsp; The reality of the latter situation is that most IP business picks a target price for their product and then ensures that the creation cost + manufacturing and shipping cost fits within that guide.&nbsp; The hard copy of a book is not &quot;the product&quot;, merely a common and convenient mechanism for shipping it.&nbsp; Thus, while shipping as a PDF is certainly cheaper, it's naive and unreasonable to expect more than a token discount.Thus, it's quite consistent (and friendly) for WotC to offer to provide a PDF along with the book for only a token fee, and the rationale for providing that fee makes sense.&nbsp; A token fee and a broad electronic &quot;paper-trail&quot; will discourage casual piracy and misuse.&nbsp; And there's nothing stopping them integrating a PDF-only option (at something close to full retail price) as well.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nom, post: 3873651, member: 56980"] [b]Groups and Watermarking[/b] A decent watermark will allow a non-DRM PDF to be shared within a family. I'm not going to bat an eyelid at sharing a PDF that prominently and frequently features my D&D account name (or, at the extreme, even my credit card details) with wife. There's no way I'm going to share it more generally, though. This technique wont work as well for paid-DDI integration. One way to handle this would be to allow a small (2? 3? 5?) number of paid-DDI accounts to access the database from a single book code, but all secondary codes must be paid for by the secondary user [b]and[/b] verified manually from the main account within 15 minutes of being registered. Secondary codes would not give access to the PDF (you get that directly from the primary user), merely the database integration. Easy to allow a small number of registered users, but any misuse can easily be handled by clicking the 'report as suspicious' rather than 'accept' button. The main user should also be able to deregister any secondary accounts. As for sample copies, the SRD actually fulfils that role rather well. I returned to D&D at the time of the 3.0 -> 3.5 switch, and did so because I was able to read the SRD rules and think "hey, they've made some serious improvements here". As for printed book + PDF vs PDF, you need to ask yourself whether what you want is the convenience of having the book as a PDF and don't care about the hard copy (in which case just buy the whole package and leave the book in a box somewhere) or whether you actually want the book at a significant discount by just buying the PDF. The reality of the latter situation is that most IP business picks a target price for their product and then ensures that the creation cost + manufacturing and shipping cost fits within that guide. The hard copy of a book is [b]not[/b] "the product", merely a common and convenient mechanism for shipping it. Thus, while shipping as a PDF is certainly cheaper, it's naive and unreasonable to expect more than a token discount. Thus, it's quite consistent (and friendly) for WotC to offer to provide a PDF along with the book for only a token fee, and the rationale for providing that fee makes sense. A token fee and a broad electronic "paper-trail" will discourage [i]casual[/i] piracy and misuse. And there's nothing stopping them integrating a PDF-only option (at something close to full retail price) as well. [/QUOTE]

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