[discostu]

You're assuming that the illegal swappers are willing to pay anything. They're behavior shows your assumption to be wrong. If they didn't want to pay RIAA prices they could buy used, or they could wait for the price to come down, or they could buy on cassette, or they could switch to discount stores that rarely charge RIAA prefered prices. But they're not willing to do those things, instead they steal it, because they want something for nothing.

[Principled]

You're assuming that the illegal swappers are willing to pay anything. They're behavior shows your assumption to be wrong.

THey haven't had the opportunity to buy but one way- the same way they've been buying since before the personal computer was invented.

Used stuff can be damaged. Used stuff is inconvenient. THe apple thing handles those problems nicely... and is selling well.

There is nothing to indicate that swappers would refuse to buy under an alternate method. Your assertions to the contrary are empty.

[Hajman]

You're assuming that the illegal swappers are willing to pay anything. They're behavior shows your assumption to be wrong.

No I'm not. I'm assuming that the swappers are willing to pay a fair price under a fair business model. And the fact that people do buy from places like what Mac has to offer, and that swapping files creates free advertising for new artists, allowing them to become known in the music community, are just two examples of this. You're only looking at a very small section of the basic economic model that drives things like this (specifically, price). People are willing to pay for convenience, quality and loyalty. This much has already been seen, and not just in music. More then price drives consumers. Discounting everything but price isn't looking at a very accurate economic model.

-The Hajman-