Buying On-line

I have no problem with companies making .pdfs available on the condition that they have DRM protection. I have no problem with them charging whatever they want for their products. These things don't piss me off.

However, in order to sell me a product, you have to do more than simply not actively piss me off. I have to want to buy your product. And this is one area where on-line shopping breaks down.

See, if I'm in a store, and I have a book in my hands, I may well impulse buy it. This happens a lot, especially with game books, DVDs and music. When I'm shopping on-line, however, I never impulse buy. If I'm on-line, it's because I want something.

(I think the reasoning is something like this - in a store I might not be able to find the very thing I actually want, so I'll get something else. On-line, anything is about as easy to get as anything else, so that incentive is gone. Oh, and shiny "Three for Two!" stickers don't seem to convert very well to the on-line format.)

So, how to resolve this dilemma?

Well, it just so happens I have a couple of ideas:

1) Free samples. Or, if they could get the format and protections right, timelocked samples would be even better. The idea is that you give away a fair amount of stuff free (sneak previews, supplementary adventures, or, on the DVD or music front, trailers and sample tracks). You keep the premium stuff back, and charge top dollar for it. That way, if you like the free stuff, you know that the rest of the stuff is likely to be to your taste.

The timelock formats should be obvious - you download the files for free, but after 50 hours or so the files lock, unless you pay for them. That way, you get to try whatever you want before you buy. And, of course, we're all a lot more inclined to sample something for free than we are to just go ahead and buy it.

2) Smaller files. There is more value in a 400-page book than a 32-page adventure, and the printing and binding costs are similarly favourable to big print works. I don't think the same is true of electronic documents. Clearly, there is no real difference in binding costs (since there aren't any), and storage costs would seem to favour the small. Again, I can see a case for impulse buying a small file where I would never consider dropping $34 for a campaign setting on a whim.

There are other problems associated with DRM, which I want to deal with here as well. The big issue for publishers is one of piracy. And, like it or not, it is a valid concern. Global music chains may be able to afford a little piracy, but it's unlikely that game publishers can. The problem they seem to have forgotten is that their customers won't accept DRM techniques that get in their way. At best, they're an annoyance. At worst, a computer failure wipes out your entire collection, worth several hundred dollars. It is also true that if you buy a file (mp3, pdf, whatever) you absolutely should have the right and the ability to easily take it to any other medium you care. It should be your copy, to do with as you will. If you want to move it to another computer, there should be no problem. It shouldn't even be an issue. If you want to lend it to a friend, the same should also be true.

I have no idea how to solve that problem, however. I just wish that I believed that someone was actually looking. As it is, we have the big companies trying to force DRM on us, the bulk of ordinary customers being shafted, or at least refusing to buy, and a handful of stalwarts/zealots/pirates screaming about how every protection move is big brother or big business stomping on their God-given right to do whatever they want.