[plug] Gary ... was Re: "stealing"

[Colin Muller]

> I think Gary has some good points and is quite right.

You stole one of his r's.

> There is also a lot of concern in the music and general publishing world,
> and it is not too hard to see their point ... if pirate copies are
> freely available who is going to pay $65 to purchase a video movie
> or $20 for a music CD when you can get pirate copies for a fraction
> of the cost.

It's not quite that simple. You may want to read Janis Ian on the topic:
http://www.janisian.com/article-fallout.html
The article includes this little fact (but has many more important
points than this to make): Change in merchandise sales after beginning
free downloads: Up 300%

Also of interest is the experience of the Baen Free Library:
http://www.baen.com/library/

Colin