How much is information really worth?

[geldonyetich]

One of the interesting things about the Internet is you can pretty much download anything you want. In fact, according some statistics, most PC users pirate their software instead of buying it.

So, that being the case, I thought this would be a good line of discussion: How much is information worth to you?

In other words, what would you find to be a reasonable cost of movies, games, music, ideas, ect? Feel free to address as many or as few things as you like.

Imagine you live in a world where you set the price. What's reasonable?

 

[Faps]

Movies, games and music are not information but products and are as valuable as the target market is willing to pay for them.

As for real information it's as valuable as the advantage it gives you which can be as little as knowing where the nearest Starbucks is or knowing where your enemies keep their nuclear weapons.

 

[geldonyetich]

Movies, games and music are not information but products and are as valuable as the target market is willing to pay for them.

I'd like to agree here, but I figure if you can download these things, the original still exists with the vendor, but now you have a copy of it, aren't they just information?

I'm sure that's how pirates look at them, as "freedom of information" is largely their battlecry.

Besides, I'm not asking what generic_target_market_purchaser_9414 is willing to pay for them, I'm asking what you, as an individual, find to be a reasonable cost. Should games be $5, or is that going too far? Not far enough?

 

[walls of cetepedes]

Information can be worth several people's lives.

 

[Faps]

Movies, games and music are not information but products and are as valuable as the target market is willing to pay for them.

I'd like to agree here, but I figure if you can download these things, the original still exists with the vendor, but now you have a copy of it, aren't they just information?

I'm sure that's how pirates look at them, as "freedom of information" is largely their battlecry.

Besides, I'm not asking what generic_target_market_purchaser_9414 is willing to pay for them, I'm asking what you, as an individual, find to be a reasonable cost. Should games be $5, or is that going too far? Not far enough?

Well yes and no since you download them to be entertained not be informed and you download them because you are unable or more likely unwilling to pay for it.

The "freedom of information" argument is flawed because I'm willing to bet that most people who pirate music and movies would be willing to pay for them if they were more reasonably priced. That is my reason, I'm unwilling to pay £10 for a CD that I might not like so I download it first to see and if I do I will most likely buy it. Movies I download for the sole reason that I refuse to pay £8 to see a movie when it cost £4 a couple of years ago and paying one actor millions of pounds is ridiculous.

It's hard to find a reasonable price as the consumer will always want to pay less and the distributors will always want to pay more, the hardest part is to find a balance between to the two so both are content with it. Clearly this isn't happening at the moment and don't ask me what the answer is because it's far to complex for one person to answer.

 

[geldonyetich]

I'm sure that's how pirates look at them, as "freedom of information" is largely their battlecry.

The "freedom of information" argument is flawed because I'm willing to bet that most people who pirate music and movies would be willing to pay for them if they were more reasonably priced. That is my reason, I'm unwilling to pay £10 for a CD that I might not like so I download it first to see and if I do I will most likely buy it. Movies I download for the sole reason that I refuse to pay £8 to see a movie when it cost £4 a couple of years ago and paying one actor millions of pounds is ridiculous.

It's hard to find a reasonable price as the consumer will always want to pay less and the distributors will always want to pay more, the hardest part is to find a balance between to the two so both are content with it. Clearly this isn't happening at the moment and don't ask me what the answer is because it's far to complex for one person to answer.

See, this was actually what I was getting at from the start:

If pirates pirate information because it's too expensive, then what's really a reasonable cost for information, in everyone's opinion?

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Well considering what it costs the producers of movies/music/games to actually produce these things...it could do to be quite a bit cheaper. Now I know making these thigns can be expensive, and they have to make a profit to stay in buissiness, but I recall a story on the escapist about Dead Space. A good game released I think some time last year, apperently they didn't make a profit(or not enough of one, can't remember which) now this was because the games was pirated too much. But I'm thinking if they didn't charge upwards of $50 for they would have sold many more copies. This goes for many games and other forms of media, these things are so overpriced AND so easy to pirate because of it. So long story short: lower prices=more sold.

EDIT: I should have mentioned music,

My library isn't that large but it's large enough that I would have payed a fe THOUSAND dollars if I had payed for every single album. I repeat THOUSAND, to be precice, if every album costed $10(which is actually pretty damn cheap, they usually cost 15-30) I would have 5500 dollars worth of music. That is way to much for something that everyone should be entilted to. Especially for me music is VERY important, it's a huge part of my life and without it I wouldn't be who I am. Recently I've also noticed that everyone is downloading music(whether pirating or through something like iTunes) and local CD stores have been going out of buissness. This disapoints me, but also lets me see that people no lnoger want to pay for this overpriced entertainment.

 

[XJ-0461]

Information's value depends wholely on what the information is.

But that isn't what where on about here, so I'll switch to the topic others are discussing.
Games could be a bit cheaper, but I'm not too fussed about the prices at the moment.

 

[j0z]

Yes, information is worth something, but how much is entirely based on what people are willing to pay for it.
I will use 3d modeling packages as an example:
Autodesk 3DS Maya costs over $3000. It is a premiere tool used in such movies as LotR. But once you pay that, what do you have? A disc and a pretty box, if that. You of course have the software, but in actuality, you don't even own that. You spent several thousand dollars on the right to use it (If I understand most software EULAs).
On the other end, we have a package like Blender 3D. probably not as powerful as Maya, but still extremely and more than enough for everything less than feature film special effects.
How much does it cost? $0.
It is examples like that (and there are numerous others like Photoshop/GIMP, Windows/Linux, etc)that make me wonder how much a series of 1s and 0s are worth.

Just a quick example. Information is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it.

 

[JemJar]

The answer is one of personal preference. There's some stuff I've downloaded and watched / listened to / played which I would never have bothered to pay even £1 for. In some cases I've been so impressed I've then gone out and bought a proper copy or taken an interest in sequels, but it's rare.

To a fan a copy of a new film / album / TV show is worth a lot, to a neutral - who cares?

The problem is that cutting the price significantly doesn't have a vast impact on sales. Sure it'll increase them, people will be less likely to sit on the fence, more likely to buy one product over another - but there's severe diminishing returns here.

 

[metagaia]

Well, the cheap and uninformative answer is "Information is worth as much as someone is willing to pay"

Part of the problem with normal high street chain shopping is that it does not measure an individual's desire to purchase a product, only some kind of warped average.

An RPG fan would be willing to pay much more for FFXIII than a FPSer. A lot of people who illegally download will claim it is to try out a product they are not sure they want. If they like it, purchase it or similar things legitimately, if not, they can just delete it. While of course piracy is not ideal, I think it is leading to a much more fliud exchange rate for 'information'

 

[phi161]

Besides, I'm not asking what generic_target_market_purchaser_9414 is willing to pay for them, I'm asking what you, as an individual, find to be a reasonable cost. Should games be $5, or is that going too far? Not far enough?

Considering some games take upto a year to produce, you'd have to sell a game worth $5 (~£3.25)in the tens of millions to make it worth your while. Where this might reduce the number of crappy, bug riddled and seemingly rushed games being spewed into the market, it doesn't exactly endear its self to the game producers.

Besides how many games sell in the tens of million nowadays? the Halo franchise, maybe the GTA franchise. Hell even WoW has 12 million players...

I'd be impressed if anyone could come up with a list of ten from the past 5 years or so.

OT: Information, or more specifically games/movies/music in this discussion, is only worth what people are willing to pay. If there were to be a world wide boycott on buying cds (because they were too expensive, for example) companies would be forced to:
a) lower their prices - give in to consumer pressure
b) Hold their prices - ignore those damn dirty hippies
c) go bust

 

[metagaia]

Besides, I'm not asking what generic_target_market_purchaser_9414 is willing to pay for them, I'm asking what you, as an individual, find to be a reasonable cost. Should games be $5, or is that going too far? Not far enough?

Considering some games take upto a year to produce, you'd have to sell a game worth $5 (~£3.25)in the tens of millions to make it worth your while. Where this might reduce the number of crappy, bug riddled and seemingly rushed games being spewed into the market, it doesn't exactly endear its self to the game producers.

Besides how many games sell in the tens of million nowadays? the Halo franchise, maybe the GTA franchise. Hell even WoW has 12 million players...

I'd be impressed if anyone could come up with a list of ten from the past 5 years or so.

Wikipedia is your friend [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games#Top_20_console_games_of_all_time] ;-)

 

[phi161]

Wikipedia is your friend [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games#Top_20_console_games_of_all_time] ;-)

I did look at this infact, the average of the 'Top 20 console games of all time' equals 15.8195 million copies.

Still even with these sums, it won't add up.

15.8195 m
X $5
----------
$79,097,500

The first person shooter video game Halo 3 was the focus of an extensive marketing campaign which began with the game's developer, Bungie, announcing the game via a trailer at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2005. Microsoft, the game's publisher, planned a five-pronged marketing strategy to maximize sales and to appeal to casual and hard-core gamers. Bungie produced trailers and video documentaries to promote the game, partnering with firms such as Digital Domain and Weta Workshop. Licensed products including action figures, toys, and Halo 3-branded soda were released in anticipation of the game; the franchise utilized more than forty licensees to promote the game, and the advertising campaign ultimately cost more than $40 million.

$79,097,500
$40,000,000
-----------
$39,097,500 - And you've still yet to pay for development, and production of the game

 

[SimuLord]

Information is worth the same as anything else: What its purchaser is willing to pay for it.

 

[Berethond]

And that is way to much for something everyone should be entitled too.

What?
How does that make sense?

OP, you're thinking of "information" as "real stuff that also exists in a digitized form".
Music, for example. It exists as a very real, concrete object. (Well, sound, but, whatever.)

It's not technically "information".

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

However much me not perforating their kidney is worth to them. No one plots against me..at least not for long.

As for music. I'll buy it off Amazon and iTunes happily, but never from HMV. Those bastards rip you off something crazy. £22 for a Disturbed album! And not even the special edition version! It's like they're just attaching a hoover to my wallet and cackling manically.

And if there's manic cackling to be doing, I'm damn sure it's going to be me doing it.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

And that is way to much for something everyone should be entitled too.

What?
How does that make sense?

OP, you're thinking of "information" as "real stuff that also exists in a digitized form".
Music, for example. It exists as a very real, concrete object. (Well, sound, but, whatever.)

It's not technically "information".

Wait concrete? Sound isn't even a form of matter let alone a solid. Kidding(well it's true but you know what I mean) What I ws saying is anyone can make music and listen to music, it's like freedom of expression and speech. So we shouldn't have to give up such large sums of money just to hear it.

 

[Berethond]

And that is way to much for something everyone should be entitled too.

What?
How does that make sense?

OP, you're thinking of "information" as "real stuff that also exists in a digitized form".
Music, for example. It exists as a very real, concrete object. (Well, sound, but, whatever.)

It's not technically "information".

Wait concrete? Sound isn't even a form of matter let alone a solid. Kidding(well it's true but you know what I mean) What I ws saying is anyone can make music and listen to music, it's like freedom of expression and speech. So we shouldn't have to give up such large sums of money just to hear it.

Well duh anyone can make music.
So are you going to say everyone should get free paintings now?

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

And that is way to much for something everyone should be entitled too.

What?
How does that make sense?

OP, you're thinking of "information" as "real stuff that also exists in a digitized form".
Music, for example. It exists as a very real, concrete object. (Well, sound, but, whatever.)

It's not technically "information".

Wait concrete? Sound isn't even a form of matter let alone a solid. Kidding(well it's true but you know what I mean) What I ws saying is anyone can make music and listen to music, it's like freedom of expression and speech. So we shouldn't have to give up such large sums of money just to hear it.

Well duh anyone can make music.
So are you going to say everyone should get free paintings now?

No it's more fundamental than that. Music for many represents freedom. For example, all anyone needs to make music is their voice, and anyone can listen to someone else sing. There you have freedom of expression in a very basic form. doesn't it seem like a shame to you to charge people money for something that can be created so easily and should be an expression of somones freedom?