P2P Positively Affects Piracy?

At least according to the guys at Torrent Freak. This isn’t a surprise, really. When you have a broadband connection and can download CDs in under an hour, or a DVD in a few hours, and you have a CD/DVD burner, why bother with buying physical media?

Of course, I am not advocating piracy here, but I am making a point–even 5 years ago, these things were uncommon. Now, at least in the developed world, these things are commonplace. If you’re intent on software piracy, and you have these things, why in the world would you pay for someone else’s bootlegged media when you can easily make your own?

Physical piracy is still rampant in areas with low broadband penetration and/or low income areas, e.g. large portions of Asia. If the companies are intent on stopping piracy in these locations, the best advise is to simply lower prices, which is exactly what the book publishers have been doing for years–at least that’s what my publisher told me several years ago.