[cf0ed2aa-bdf5]

Neil Gaiman has the same opinion as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qkyt1wXNlI

I think one of the effects we can observe here is cognitive dissonance. If people pirate a book or a movie or an album they like but did not pay for it they will have to cope with cognitive dissonance. A lot of people with then buy the book they downloaded to 'make up for it' and/or will as Neil suggested buy the future books of the newly discovered author.

The web is a great place to discover new things and it seems that Paul Coelho and Neil Gaiman really see the upside of having their works out there on the web for free and embrace it.

[_exec]

Anecdote: I pirated his Sandman series back when I couldn't afford them + was in a country where they were not available for sale in the first place. When things changed I bought the entire 11 volumes + several of his books in physical format. Sent from my phone.

[_exec]

Point is, freemium works.

[melvinmt]

This is not cognitive dissonance, this is just guilty conscience that you're talking about.

[cf0ed2aa-bdf5]

I am pretty sure what I am talking about is cognitive dissonance theory as developed by Leon Festinger.

Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by a conflict of two cognitions. In this case 1) "I like this book" and 2) "I did not pay for that book even though I should have".

Now there are a few ways to resolve with that dissonance. A way to do that is to change one of your cognitions, you could 1) tell yourself that the book wasn't good at all and therefore not worth paying for, or 2) pay for the book because you liked it - either way you eliminated the controversy.

[mattgreenrocks]

Don't forget the time-honored method of becoming an armchair economist and/or expert in semantics.

[tszyn]

That only works if you believe you should have paid for it. An increasing number of people believe they are entitled to free copies because that's what they've been getting all their lives.

[evo_9]

No it's a desire to both pay the artist and own the original. This is exactly why after I hear new music I love I buy the cd/mp3's and often if I really love it track down the vinyl version as well. It's more rooted in a collectors mentality of needing to own the real mc-coy.

[_exec]

I dunno, it was neither for me (see my previous comment). Its just a different medium. Kinda like how people pirate mp3s or movies but still buy the vinyls / go to the movie theatre. Its just a different experience IMHO and you get a different value from each.