On 22 Jan 97, Carin M. Armlin wrote to Kit Ballantyne:
 CA>  You know, it's not only the copyright infringement that bugs me.  It's
 CA> the fact that he goes into a store and buys 10 copies of the same movie.
 CA> What if those are the last ten?  What if some parent had intended to buy
 CA> such and such movie for their son or daughter, but couldn't cause some
 CA> guy just shoved the last 10 copies into his shopping cart?
Gads, THAT happens all the time, with ANY product!  An example.  I collect 
action figure toys, and many action figure toys are very limited these days. 
I just purchased three "3 Stooges" 9 inch figures a week ago.  I got the 
whole set, Moe, Larry and Curly.  These figures were sold ONLY in "Target" 
stores, and the company that put them out issued only 37,000 of each figure - 
worldwide!
When I got to Target the day I got them, it was about 7:30 PM.  I knew about 
the figures coming out because of an article I saw in a toy figure 
collectables magazine.  But the article didn't say when the figures were 
coming out, only that they'd be out "in January".  I stopped at Target just 
to see if by chance, they had any in yet.  It was around Jan 15 or so.  And I 
found that they DID have some!  I ran back to the toy department and saw, on 
the shelf, only *one* Moe and *one* Larry, and three Curly's.  I grabbed the 
one Moe and Larry, and one Curly.  I also looked at the shelf the figures 
were on.  There was enough shelf space where those figures were to have 
accommodated maybe 28 or so figures - 4 rows 7 deep or so.  At the register, 
I asked the person checking me out, who happened to be the toy dept. stock 
person, when they had gotten those figures in.  I was told they were put out 
the NIGHT BEFORE!  In *one day* the store had virtually sold out!  It was 
only SHEER LUCK that I got there at a time when a whole set was still 
available.  I got the last set!
Now, to make my point.  Should I *not* have bought that set, so that the 
*next* person who came in wanting them could have gotten them for themselves? 
Of course not!  Why would I want to let *them* have them, when *I* wanted 
them?  It's the same with the Disney movies.  I usually take over 6 months to 
purchase the 10 copies of each movie I want.  And usually I am NOT the last 
person to get a copy of the movie.  But the question is, what IF the store 
had only one copy left, and I already had 9, and I wanted that last 
copy...would I leave it for someone else?  NOPE!  I'd snag it.  Now if 
someone comes in after I have gotten that last copy, that's THEIR problem.  
You know the old addage - if you snooze, you lose.  If they wanted it bad 
enough, they should have come in earlier.
One more thing Carin.  Your logic is totally flawed.  Every product on Earth 
is limited somehow.  From a can of Del Monte canned peas, to silver dollars. 
There will *always* be a final silver dollar, or a final can of peas, or a 
final action figure toy.  There will *always* be people who want that can of 
peas but the store is out.  Get my point?  I can't spend my life worrying 
about how my purchase of something will cause someone else somewhere else to 
be inconvenienced.  If I worried about that, I'd never eat, and I'd die!  I 
mean, if I worried some starving person might want that can of peas, I'd 
never buy it.  And if I applied that logic to *all* food, I'd never buy any 
food and I'd starve!  I hoep you can see the OBVIOUS flaw in your opinion.
 CA> I saw a few copies of the "Aladdin" video at Wal-mart after
 CA> Christmas.  I was like "Cool!  I get paid in a couple of days--I can
 CA> finally buy it."   Guess what. They were all gone when I came back a
 CA> couple of days later.
I guess you learned a lesson here, didn't you?  Don't wait till the last 
minute!!!  Like I said, you SNOOZE, you LOSE.  You had plenty opportunity to 
buy Aladden.  It's been out 2 years now.  If you didn't get it, it's YOUR OWN 
FAULT.  Don't go off arrogantly blaming other consumers for YOUR poor 
decision.  Be an adult and take responsiblity for your OWN actions - or your 
own INaction!
 CA> Now, hmmmm... could it be that someone like John came in a scooped up
 CA> the last few copies?
Hey, if they did, they did.  So what?  It's your own fault you didn't procure 
your copy earlier.  Live with it.  Look at all the people that bought ELMO 
last Christmas!  How many parents couldn't find an ELMO to give to their 
kids, becuase every store was sold out by Thanksgiving?
If you are going to live in a capitalist nation Carin, you better get used to 
capitalist RULES.  You sit on your duff, and you are going to lose out.  It's 
a fact.
 CA>  It's greed, pure and simple.  I'm behind you all the way, Kit.
You can be behind him all the way when it comes to collector value, collector 
markets, etc.  But he's still DEAD WRONG when it comes to his lame 
interpretation of copyright law.  And *that* is a fact.
--- GoldED 2.50
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