If you don't, you lose and the pirate wins, which is what is happening right now.  You don't get a printed manual because it saves on cost, but the cost saved is nothing compared to the revenue lost by people chosing not to buy.  Customers need an incentive to buy a physical product over a download, otherwise they might go astray and get it for free - which is what they're doing ;-)

On the other hand, no one got the Portishead boxset for free, because you can't distribute a physical product on a via download.

These specialty packages are exceptional items - high quality yes, and persuasive to die hard fans who have the money to spend on them. But you have to be a fan to buy something like that. It works for premium, limited run products. This is much like the suggestion that musicians can support themselves by giving live performances. Creating a high quality physical product and getting them out to a lot of users is no easy thing. Most creators can only effectively do this by working with third parties who, for the most part, simply replace the corporate entities like Apple iTunes. The creators get less, not more - and they certainly assume more risk. Yes, print-on-demand, and its like are all solutions, but they create overhead.

Let me share with you what I fear is inevitable, because laws are not enforced and people cannot control their impulse to take whatever they want.

Software companies are already evolving into subscription based services. Some, like Adobe, are able to force or persuade because they already dominate their respective niches. If Creative Suite is no longer available, then you have no choice but to go with Creative Cloud. If in their estimation a price mix is too onerous, or they can acquire even greater numbers by lowering the price, they will. Because once you are locked in, its much, much harder to move away. These software / services will also begin to serve content.  And much like developers who sell now through Mac App Store (or iTunes iOS apps), creators will believe they have no other choice but to upload their content to these new "in app stores". As a user, you will not have complete access to the content, and terms and pricing can be changed at any time. In fact, from the top down, every feature of the software all the way down to every piece of content, will be optimized by the "publisher" based on highly granular analysis of user habits.

Best regards,

chikako
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