- prometheus25
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
Old school Bungie, born and raised,
In the Septagon is where I spend most of my days.
Relaxin', maxin', posting all cool,
Talking about Halo, life and some school.
Got in one little argument, and the mods got scared,
they said "You're gonna get banned and your member title'll be bare!"
You misunderstand my explanation, Economics. But let me digress a bit and humor your little...scenario.
You see, it is important that it be made clear that with any object that can be owned, possessed, etc., there will be theft. This can be due to many reasons. The desire to take risks, or the thrill to deprive from others. Some things are just too expensive for certain individuals to afford. Whatever the reason, it will happen, regardless.
Now, with that in mind, it is important for any consumer, looking to purchase any product, to think of the value of the object they wish to purchase. This can be a factor of many different criteria, but for simplicity's sake, we're just going to look at the value the product has to the consumer and the resale value.
This specific issue has been a big deal with eBooks, interesting enough. You see, at first, eBooks cost just as much as their tangible predecessors. This was, as it was seen, just a logical price. But problems arose. You see, if I purchase a physical book, once I am done reading it, I am welcome to sell it or loan it out. There are two values there, you see?
Now, at first glance, the same can be said about music. If I buy an album, I am welcome to resell it, lend it out, etc. But an issue arose with that. Music has, unlike any other media, gone almost completely digital. Of course, I don't need to explain this to you. The internet, coupled with a credit card, means instant music downloads. But, in order to stop piracy, these files typically cannot be transferred, copied, etc. Unsurprisingly enough, for legal music downloaders, this means that you remove half of a product's worth.
But, this isn't usually calculated into said products cost. That is one of the reasons why piracy has been so rampant. And while I accept your analogy of roving mobs looting during and after Katrina, I am sorely disappointed you'd select such a thing. I feel like you were going for shock factor on that one. Truly disappointed.
And you are also partially correct in assigning some of the responsibility toward internet anonymity. But, alas, I enjoy my anonymity. You see, I have the personal right not to have my information (such as addresses, my surname, date of birth, etc) taken without my consent, which I feel would be far too easy if my IP address, or whatever equivalent would exist, was linked to me in an informational sense. It's my right to privacy.
The biggest problem, I feel, in all of this spiele is that I, believe it or not, simply don't care. I don't care that a record company loses money. Maybe I just buy into the stereotype of the rich musician with a preposterously large house, two swimming pools, and two Ferrari's in the garage. Yes, it's naive. You don't have to tell me that. But the truth is I just don't care.