I’d just like to tell wizards:

Don’t try and take legal action on guys and gals like me who download PDF versions from torrent sites but also buy the very same books. If the PDF torrents were not available I’d be scanning my own books for my own personal use (the torrents are just easier).

I pay you because I respect you and I enjoy your products.
I can’t help but take advantage of the convenience digital copies provide. I assure you; I use these digital copies to be more efficient and add value to my games not to share them with the world.

No matter what happens with the books; you can still make lots of money on props: The dungeon tiles, and miniatures are a good idea. You’ve made some good changes recently with the miniatures (let us buy the characters and monsters we want [with a smaller surprise factor since that is still fun]). You’ve made smart changes like the Dungeon Delve book that uses the official tiles for the dungeons. This is the kind of thinking that rewards both you and the fans.

Maybe you could make a D&D card (like a points card) every time I buy a product give me some points. Let me use the points as a discount on new products.

Come up with new and innovated ways to help my game, and I will open my wallet over and over again.

Sorry for all the long rants everyone, I’m done now.

I use the term dead tree only because it’s common parlance. As I said, I like having the physical books, so clearly it’s not an environmental thing for me.

1. hpavc complained about the price.
2. You agree with me, that’s good.
3. Are there many people though? Because if there was, wizards would just keep selling them. itunes is selling lots of digital copies of songs, even though piracy still exists, if this was the case for WOTC you wouldn’t see a change.
I highly doubt there are many people who only want to buy digital copies of the books. Maybe there are a few people, but there are always a few exceptions.
You prefer what I prefer, having both, who wouldn’t prefer having both? Both is obviously the best way to go.
Digital is great for the same reason why digital everything is great, like I mentioned I want both digital and physical copies, I wish the books came with a free download. It just makes sense that sometimes it’s better to have a printed book, and sometimes it’s better to have a digital copy.
This move by WOTC proves to me that more people prefer the physical books over the digital copies if they had to make a choice.
4. hpavc complained they were useless.

It sounds like you’ve missed the main point of my post. I’m saying it’s pointless for people to argue with WOTC that “WOTC can’t stop Piracy.” This is what the article is essentially about (before the posts even started.) WOTC only said they are doing it to fight piracy, and that can mean a whole range of things. I’m sure WOTC knows piracy will continue; everyone here should get that, it’s not like they live on another planet. To write articles, letters, posts, or whatever directed at WOTC saying you can’t stop piracy is a waste of your time. I hope to convince some people of this.

Your final point: Ok; yes I suppose there are some people out there who would like pay money for a PDF and don’t want own a printed copy but like I keep saying doubt there are many. So for the few who do; If you really need the digital copy just make one, or download an illegal one (and do your best not to seed it, just leech.) We all agree that piracy won’t end so you’ll always have the option to download it. If you own the physical copies and illegal digital copies and just keep them for personal use, do you really think this is bad?
That’s why I say this move doesn’t effect you, a person can always get a digital copy and you can always give WOTC money.

One last thing: By the way you say dead trees it makes me think you see this as an environmental issue to some people. Perhaps so, but my advice to them is there are bigger fish to fry and other alternatives. And the topic is not about the environment.

1. No one has complained that books are too expensive.

2. Printing a PDF in black and white with no binding is almost as expensive as buying the book. Printing it out in color and getting a good binding and covers can be significantly more so. Generally speaking, if one buys a PDF they aren’t going to be printing it wholesale unless it’s fairly small.

3. Only having a digital copy sucks for you. There are many people who prefer having digital to dead tree copies. I’m not one of them, but I know of them. Personally, I like having both. In my opinion, digital is vastly superior to dead tree in almost every way; the dead tree books only win out at the table where my laptop is dedicated to more important things and it would be awkward navigating a PDF on it.

4. I have no idea what your point is about older books. If anything, you’ve just given a reason why there should be a readily available legal venue for procuring them.

Piracy is a stated reason from WotC for this foolish move. Whether that’s true or not is debatable, but the fact remains that officially they have said they did this in part due to piracy.

And finally, I’d just like to address one specific comment:

If you like the game, support them that’s all you can do. [snip] If everyone on here pays for the books, then this move doesn’t effect you.

Except that if you’re someone who is only interested in PDFs, no, you can’t do that anymore. In fact, supporting them is the one thing you can’t do, because it’s the one thing their actions prevent. And in that regard it most definitely does affect some people.