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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 7523424"><p>I'll ask you a related question: in today's world where you can do all those things, how do you "control distribution" if that's your preferred solution? </p><p></p><p>You can't. You can play whack-a-mole with infringers, but you can't win that game.</p><p></p><p>For a while in the early 2000's the music industry (and the movie industry, who saw the writing on the wall) thought the solution was going to be DRM (digital rights management). They were looking for silver bullet technology that would allow them to exert complete control over their content.</p><p></p><p>That approach had two interrelated problems:</p><p>1) The more barriers you put in front of consumers, the more incentive you give them to bypass the whole thing and get a DRM-free illegal copy.</p><p>2) Even if the technology were perfected...and it never was...eventually it has to be turned into sound to have any value, and then it can always be re-recorded. And once there is a single uncontrolled copy, it is everywhere.</p><p></p><p>The record companies (similar to some of the sentiments expressed in this thread) seemed to divide consumers into two groups, honest citizens who buy their music, and evil pirates who don't. But there is a third group, by far the largest, in the middle: those who are willing to pay, and maybe even would prefer to pay, but only if they get it the way they want it.</p><p></p><p>By throwing up DRM barriers, the record companies were inadvertently converting frustrated paying customers into non-paying copiers. </p><p></p><p>Then along came iTunes, which was the first fully legal, pay service for digital music. Yeah, it still had some DRM, but it was pretty transparent because the software worked well. It was kind of like the illegal file sharing services, but better. It offered a better interface, better search, better quality, and great organization. Turns out people were totally willing to pay, after all.</p><p></p><p>Not everybody. Some people still reveled in getting something for nothing, and continued trading (and in unauthorized copies. But it turns out plenty of people either preferred being honest, and/or were willing to pay for a high quality service.</p><p></p><p>So....to get back to your question....the way you "provide sufficient incentive" is by providing an experience superior to what customers can get by downloading illicit copies.* In other words, leverage the power of technology to do something more powerful than a PDF. Then just stop worrying (even if it's aggravating) that people trade the PDFs. <em> Those people probably wouldn't buy your product anyway.</em> Staying away at night being angry at them isn't going to accomplish anything.</p><p></p><p>Or not. You are also free to seethe angrily. It won't change anything.</p><p></p><p>*D&DBeyond could have been that experience, except that people who already bought the books are being asked to buy them again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 7523424"] I'll ask you a related question: in today's world where you can do all those things, how do you "control distribution" if that's your preferred solution? You can't. You can play whack-a-mole with infringers, but you can't win that game. For a while in the early 2000's the music industry (and the movie industry, who saw the writing on the wall) thought the solution was going to be DRM (digital rights management). They were looking for silver bullet technology that would allow them to exert complete control over their content. That approach had two interrelated problems: 1) The more barriers you put in front of consumers, the more incentive you give them to bypass the whole thing and get a DRM-free illegal copy. 2) Even if the technology were perfected...and it never was...eventually it has to be turned into sound to have any value, and then it can always be re-recorded. And once there is a single uncontrolled copy, it is everywhere. The record companies (similar to some of the sentiments expressed in this thread) seemed to divide consumers into two groups, honest citizens who buy their music, and evil pirates who don't. But there is a third group, by far the largest, in the middle: those who are willing to pay, and maybe even would prefer to pay, but only if they get it the way they want it. By throwing up DRM barriers, the record companies were inadvertently converting frustrated paying customers into non-paying copiers. Then along came iTunes, which was the first fully legal, pay service for digital music. Yeah, it still had some DRM, but it was pretty transparent because the software worked well. It was kind of like the illegal file sharing services, but better. It offered a better interface, better search, better quality, and great organization. Turns out people were totally willing to pay, after all. Not everybody. Some people still reveled in getting something for nothing, and continued trading (and in unauthorized copies. But it turns out plenty of people either preferred being honest, and/or were willing to pay for a high quality service. So....to get back to your question....the way you "provide sufficient incentive" is by providing an experience superior to what customers can get by downloading illicit copies.* In other words, leverage the power of technology to do something more powerful than a PDF. Then just stop worrying (even if it's aggravating) that people trade the PDFs. [I] Those people probably wouldn't buy your product anyway.[/I] Staying away at night being angry at them isn't going to accomplish anything. Or not. You are also free to seethe angrily. It won't change anything. *D&DBeyond could have been that experience, except that people who already bought the books are being asked to buy them again. [/QUOTE]
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