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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mac Callum" data-source="post: 1533923" data-attributes="member: 17035">Just as a data point, I don't go to game stores much.  I've downloaded books, "thumbed through them", so to speak, and the ones I liked, I bought.  The ones I didn't, I tossed.  No different from looking through books at the FLGS, IMO.So, how has file sharing affected RPG sales?  From my seat, several books were sold that otherwise would not have been.  I read reviews here at EN World, but I wasn't going to buy the books on that alone.  I don't need more books on my shelf that I never use because they weren't what I thought they would be.I also have a scanned copy of all the books I own.  Legal?  Probably not under the DMCA, but that law is about as contrary to established Fair Use as you can get.  I carry my laptop around with me at school - I like being able to look up stuff in my PHB or DMG when I left the dead tree versions on the shelf.  Besides, its certainly perfectly legal for me to scan the book in myself for my own use.  How does downloading make a perfectly legal activity illegal?Whatever, I could go on (my Copyright Law professor wrote the DMCA), but I won't.  Books are very different from music.  The "experience" of music has more to do with your sound system than whether its being played off of a CD or Mp3.  Most people's speakers aren't good enough to hear the difference.Books aren't like that.  The "experience" of a book can only really be recreated by paper, ink and a good binding.  For music and movies file sharing may be a net loss, but for books it can only be good marketing.  See <a href="http://www.instapundit.com/archives/013407.php" target="_blank">here</a>.  Poster's wife's book was out of print, but selling used at Amazon for $99.  She put posted online for free PDF.  Price at Amazon went up to $105.  If you follow the link there are more links to similar experiences.Of course, PDF-only publishers who aren't offering anything better than what's available for free will be hurt more than people with both PDF & print versions.  The "paid for" experience is no better than the "free" one.  Only RPG'ers civic virtue (which I'm sure there's plenty of) will keep them in business.Based on my observations, of course.</blockquote>

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