There are two main types of illegal downloaders.

The first type is the one described by MB; I call them the freeloaders. The mentality of the freeloader is that they will take whatever they can get unless they are physically restrained from doing so. They download movies and music for free despite low cost options being available and there is no 'right price' to get them to switch. The main concern of this group is 'I don't to be out of pocket to have what I want'.

The second type is the convenience downloader. I am a member of this group, only for tv shows. This group is the primary reason tv show downloads are so high in Australia with the main three networks dicking people around with out of order broadcasts and new episodes being significantly behind new content. The main concern of this group is 'I don't want to be disadvantaged compared to other consumers to have what I want.'

There is a wealth of methods of getting the second group to convert; some of it comes down to cost but most of it comes down to speed of delivery and convenience. ABC were making the latest episodes of Doctor Who available to watch on their website an hour after it had broadcast in the UK (5:30am Sydney time). This meant that you could actually watch it earlier than if you waited for someone in the UK to encode it, upload it and then you download it. Viewer numbers went through the roof. You still had some people from group one downloading it so they could keep it on their computer, however they had successfully grabbed group two. Compare this to the latest season of Red Dwarf which is airing about six weeks behind broadcasts in the UK. It's a six episode season so its starting in Australia as its ending in the UK. The only people who will be watching it on tv are those that didn't know there was a new season of Red Dwarf or don't know how to download it.

Ease of use is really important; along with iTunes, Google also offer movie downloads and rentals. You can type the name of most movies into youtube and the first result is often that movie available to buy or rent for under $5 (rentals obviously being cheaper) What that means is that if people are searching for free options and the first thing they get offered is a low cost paid option, there's a decent chance a lot of people from group two are going to go for it. You have to make it super easy though.

Tricerasoft has done a lot of things right with their business model so far, the most important ones being have access to a huge collection of suppliers (though they say they're not signing Sound Choice up) and there's a generous bulk purchase option. Although they have said they won't go down this path, I still believe the best thing they can do is offer an 'all database' subscription offer. People love set and forget billing; as more songs get added (at no cost to Tricerasoft because they didn't make it), the consumer is seeing their value go up. It's essentially the all you can eat option and taking that restriction off of how much you can have would have widespread appeal.
Submitted by LeatherBaron on 05-11-2012

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