Well put, I completely agree with you, however, in the end there is going to have to be some kind of middle ground. There is nothing really new happening here. The media industry has always been opposed to new technology going back to the player piano, the first real to real Ampex tape recorders, VHS recorders, you name it. They have sued, and fought every one of those innovations.
Remember 15 years ago when they went after small used CD sellers? That legal fight ended when they went after a national company = The Wherehouse sound Company, for selling used CDs in their stores. What! ... you can't even sell a used CD... a physical thing. They even had artists coming out and publicly saying it was wrong to sell used CDs. Seems petty now, because it was petty back then.
The media companies don't like anything that upsets the flow, and they will go after anyone who makes any little change, where they don't get paid. This is one reason why they have so little good will with the public.
But it is out of their hands now, not only because of the transferability of digital media, but more importantly, because they have no way, what so ever, to control this in places like China, or Russia. These countries will continue to look the other way while their populace steals all the innovations, and entertainment, of the west, because they want to join the modern world, and they can not afford to pay their way. And they know, and everyone else knows, that very little can be done to curtail them.
The only way the media industry are going to come out of this, is to change their thinking, and come up with new ways to market old products.
At 04:24 PM 7/6/2005, you wrote:
That's a ridiculous argument. If he was priced out of the market, he could have lowered his price to encourage sales (discounting). But once his product was free, he could not price-match with "free". So priced out of the market only applies if there is an effective price. "Free" is not an effective price. Think of it this way: Sony makes a great WEGA 60" screen. Best Buy wants to sell it for $2,100. So does everyone in town. But Joe, out of the back of his white van, will sell it to you for $210. Sure, it's probably stolen, but it's the same damn TV. So, did Sony just price itself out of the market? No. They were undercut by someone who stole the product and priced it below cost. That's not competition, it's just thievery. The same is true with cut DVDs, etc. it's just easier to forgive because, hey, it's all "digital" and you don't see any "hard product" being stolen. But if Joe went into blockbuster, shoved a bunch of discs under his coat and brought them out to you for free.. you'd know for sure it's stealing. But if he goes to his house and uploads them via bittorrent or Grokster or whatever, suddenly, everyone is OK with it. CW
