Re: OMG!

[CUTjefbla@bconnex.net (Jeff Blakeney)]

On Thu, 03 May 2001 13:10:23 +0200, "Sheldon Simms"
<sheldon@interprice.com> wrote:

>Im Artikel <b66_200105021339@juge.com> schrieb "Bruce Baker"
><Bruce.Baker@juge.com>:
>
>
>> But I think it is clear that the market for
>> original software is going up not down.  It would go up even more if the
>> option to download it didn't exist.
>
>??? That's certainly not clear to me, at least assuming you're talking
>about Apple II software. How can you justify this assertion?

It is really quite simple.

Many people never stopped using their Apple IIs.  Many people are
coming back to the Apple II now out of nostalgia or whatever.  Others
are getting into the Apple II for the first time.  This may be because
they were always interested in the Apple II but could never afford one
or whatever.

All these people are using the old machines or picking up machines for
dirt cheap and they want to play their favourite game from when they
used Apple IIs or to see some of the greats that they've heard about.

Follow me so far?

Now this software that they want is most likely still protected by
copyright law so is not legally available from any source but the
copyright holder or a licensed distributor.  Most of the distributors
have either sold out their stock or have had their license to
distribute expire.  Most of the copyright holders no longer sell or
make their products available in any way either.

In a perfect world, sites like Asimov wouldn't exist so these Apple II
users would not be able to simply download the programs they want.
They would have to look for originals somewhere.  Be it from the
copyright holder, a distributor with remaining stock, a thrift store,
a yard sale, a post on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace, an eBay auction, a
dumpster, et al.

Is this still making sense?

This means that without the ability to download stuff, more people
would be searching for originals and therefore, the market for
originals would go up.  This would probably also increase the price of
originals as well although I'm sure some people would still luck in
and get an original for free or very close to it.

Does it make sense now?

As things are now, if I were to put my never opened, still
shrinkwrapped, extra original of the game Renegade on eBay many of the
people who might be potential bidders will simply go to (or have
already gone to) Asimov and download it rather than trying to buy
mine.  This means I would end up getting less than I could have for
that piece of software and all because there are people illegally
distributing it and even more people using an illegal copy of it
thereby making the market for my original smaller.

--
 Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II Unversity on A2Central.com