Quote - That way the base poser download is MUCH smaller, and customers get in the habit "shopping" in the CP store for the free items. (And odds are, pick up a few purchased items at the same time.)

Unfortunately CP has driven away quite a few customers from that market.

Quote -
Another great comparison that comes to mind, as craftmen (and women). I live in area where hand made crafts are very popular, and handicrafts make a LOT more money per hour on their sales then poser content does.

Surely someone who creates digital content should be able to make the same living as a basket weaver, or a quiltmaker?

Unfortunately that particular comparison falls way short of the target. Physical merchandise is not licensed. It is sold! The recent flap cause by Poserworld threatening a customer if they didn't delete the content that they purchased has opened a tear in many people's trust when it comes to forking over their hard earned cash for digital media which may be revoked by the licensor at the drop of a hat.

Digital media also has a limited shelf life, as shown by the actual software itself when new and pricey updates come out making older versions undesireable at best, obsolete at worst. Take Virtual Fashion for instance. Since the crashing of the original machines I ordered and installed it on, it now no longer works for me. It won't install on my new machines because I'm using a version the creators no longer support. They want us to upgrade to the newest version when the version I have would suit me just fine if I could install it and get it working.

Newer is not always better as you've just pointed out regarding DS and it's current state.

I'm sure I'm also not alone in no longer rushing to buy the latest and greatest when I now have hard drives glutted with unused content and software, both purchased and free and stacks of CD's sitting on the shelves with more. Like it or not, the customer base is not an endless well of funds and many of us are discovering how to make things on our own or just make do with what we have. The tides are changing my friend and merchants are going to have to change with it. The customers already are.