The other day I was downloading some 'unique' DJ mixes of some songs. Needless to say, I was not using iTunes, Amazon, or any other vendor, nor was I paying anything to anyone. The question posed to me by my daughter was whether I was illegally downloading music. Troubling question, indeed.
In this specific situation, I could easily argue that, since these hard-to-find mixes were not available for purchase, no other recourse existed. But let's extend this issue more broadly: How about movie downloading? The sad fact is that there is a huge amount of traffic related to movie downloads and that is not likely to change anytime soon. Drivers include: high retail costs, easy and immediate availability, and convenience. The industry is trying to fight back with 'fake copies', virus-embedded copies, 'education about illegal downloading' but all to no avail. It's perceived as a victimless crime and, in any case, portraying the studios and actors earning millions as victims doesn't go over well. In my case, having access to Netflix and Hulu and otherwise having limited time to watch movies on a computer screen generally puts a damper on this activity. Hasn't stopped me from viewing the Dragon series from Sweden MONTHS before their US release, of course. =)
The next front will be books. Publishers have their heads in the sand on this one. As do most authors. eBooks are here to stay and the disintermediation that has hit the recording and movie industries is sure to hit even harder here. If I can pass a book around my family, why would I not do the same for an e-version? Absolving readers of that perspective is not something that the publishers and etailers will be able to do. Ergo, there will be a wave of DRM cracking and eBook transfers that WILL happen. As long as the e-copy costs still reflect the hard-copy cost biases, I'm pretty sure book buyers will also not be too sympathetic to the industry. Publishers need to switch to a service model, i.e., selling editing/reviewing/editing, and move on. Needless to say, booksellers also need to develop another selling model and ramp up their e-presence
More on this later.
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