RE: re:texbook piracy

[Guest guest]

Lynn,

 

 

 

I agree with you. But legality and prosecution is one thing. Correlating the

impact of the DVD on the actual sales of books (in a one year's time) is

another issue.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

_____

 

 

On Behalf Of J. Lynn Detamore

Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:27 AM

 

re:texbook piracy

 

 

 

jason, legally speaking, the value of each disk is simply the total value of

the books contained therein. yes, it might take multiple years and

individuals to consume that intellectual property. i'd guess that wouldn't

lessen fbi or other legal penalties. lynn

 

[@chinesemed <%40Chinese Medicine>

icinedoc.com] wrote:

Thomas,

 

I am having a very hard time following your logic on this one. IMO, your

math is not correct for the situation. First of all, you cannot even

consider how many books are on the DVD as a factor in the equation, because

no student would ever buy 162 books in one semester or year. Your estimation

is based on an assumption that 1 DVD in 1 student's hand will translate into

that student not buying 162 books in one year. Hopefully this is

self-apparent as not being the statically correct.

 

Moreover, as stated in a previous post, many of the books are not CM,

therefore many of the books on the DVD would never have been purchased by

the average student anyway. We really need to look at books on the DVD that

translate into students not buying what they normally would. We have to look

at how many students potentially own the DVD. Finally, we must look at how

many books a DVD in the hands of a student would cost in sales. I believe my

original estimate is still fairly correct. Meaning If 2 DVD are in the hands

of 2 students, I believe that 8 books have the potential to not be bought.

We should remember there are those with the DVD that will still buy the

hardcopy or already have bought the required texts. So if 8 books are not

bought from 2 DVD's (in one year), at $80 a book, that is a loss of $640

($320 a DVD). That would have to make 3125 DVD's in circulation. (Over half

the students). If there is 1000 DVD's in circulation and EVERY owner acted

" immorally to the max " and they did buy 12.5 books then this would = 1

million $. If 50% of the 1000 decided to act in this " immoral " fashion then

each person would not have to buy 25 books in a year to = 1 Million $.

 

Another way to look at the numbers is this way: there are 7000 students.

With many schools not even having this DVD, let us take a conservative

hypothetical number that 25% of students own the DVD (which is probably in

reality actually less than 10%). At $80 a book, all 1750 students would have

to not buy 7.14 books for it to equal 1 million dollars.

 

My estimation is based on every DVD in a students hand will cost 4 books not

to be bought. Since I believe that 50% of students want hardcopies (or

already own the book) I estimate 8 books per 2 DVDs.

 

If my math is anywhere near correct, then there is another MAJOR leak

somewhere else. I think more accurate numbers for this must be obtained. For

example, the decline in bookstore sales in not surprising with Amazon

selling more and more books. I know students that have not bought 1 book

from the bookstore (they buy through other sources). I am not devaluing this

problem. I am just not convinced that the piracy is causing as much damage

as we think. But I do think it is detrimental to the advancement of

spreading CM in the West, and that is what concerns me. If authors and

publishers discontinue their efforts because of this act, then this is what

is sad. That is why I believe (from the numbers and what I have seen in the

schools first hand) the problem is multi-faceted. The DVD is one aspect and

seemingly, the current scapegoat. I think lots of influences are at play

here, i.e. teacher packets, and schools dumbing down subjects. I know

students are buying more and more used books from students that drop out or

quit the profession after not making it.

 

Respectfully,

 

-