Why Sharing shouldn’t be piracy.

(Updated with 2006 prices on September 5th, 2006.)

Every week we hear about this sharing software being sued, or that company crying about how sharing files on the Internet is putting them out of business.

I ask you the reader to think back to the very first intellectual property that was shared: Books. Look around you and see how many libraries are in your city, and then ask yourself, "Are these bad for publishers or good for publishers?" I mean are people, when a good book comes out, borrowing the book from the library, and taking it home to copy it? Why not?

I think there are several reasons, first is that we like to own the book. We are proud of this ownership, and we display it proudly on our shelves. Second, and most importantly, it is going to cost us more to copy the book, than it is to buy it. Please understand that if there were a real market for some kind of book copying device, we would have invented it. The truth is there is no real market for such a device. If I want to have a copy of the book, I am inclined to pay the money. However if the price was too high I might actually look into photocopying the few pages I really need.

That is what has gone wrong with the music industry; they have priced themselves out of their own market.  In 1986, when I remember CDs first coming out the price of a CD player was $900 and CDs sold for $25.  Today I can buy a great CD player for $29, do I get a similar reduction on the CD itself?  No I do not, during the last 20 years the cost of making and distributing a CD has dropped dramatically, yet the price has gone down maybe 30% or $7.   It is funny to hear music executives blame the high price of these CDs on the pirate, they spend millions trying to fight piracy, and then pass the cost onto the consumer.

First lower the prices of commercial CDs to $3 each. Why would I want to spend $2 to copy a CD I could buy for $3? Second, improve the technology, and give the consumer more. You do this by releasing $14.95 versions on DVD, with tons of extras. Think of the CD as the paperback, and the DVD as the hardcover version. It isn't hard to see that this is the way to evolve. The other way is to go to battle, and frankly it is never a good idea to fight with your customer.