Some people do associate zero moral cost with piracy. They simply don't believe that music (games, software, etc.) should be paid for, and they're never going to, but they think it has value and want it anyways.
These people make up a loud piracy background noise that companies selling bytes need to learn to ignore, rather than focus on as if it's money taken out of their pockets. They are not lost sales, there's nothing that can be done to convert them to sales, and unless/until they change on their own, they won't stop pirating your stuff.
It's the rest of us, the ones that have a bit of money and feel bad when we take for free something that for whatever reason we feel deserves to be paid for, that need to be focused on.
Fixed price points do a spectacularly bad job at serving the sections of the market that agree that something should be paid, but don't happen to think the charged prices are reasonable. It's these people who are relevant to the argument I posted above, and there's a lot of money there that's being lost.
I have to say that I'd need more time in order to properly think through your argument right now, and I don't have such time at the moment.
But the first thing that comes to mind is that no, these people shouldn't be ignored. This feels like saying "the very big thieves are always gonna be thieves, lets not worry about that. Instead, lets focus on the occasional thieves".
You might argue that since the items are not being lost, that doesn't have an impact, but I digress. There is no way to tell what would really be the pirate's action were him totally prohibited from pirating. What would he do.. pay for the stuff he likes, turn to a new hobby? Sit still thinking about all the things he is not doing? We can't know.
Some people do associate zero moral cost with piracy. They simply don't believe that music (games, software, etc.) should be paid for, and they're never going to, but they think it has value and want it anyways.
These people make up a loud piracy background noise that companies selling bytes need to learn to ignore, rather than focus on as if it's money taken out of their pockets. They are not lost sales, there's nothing that can be done to convert them to sales, and unless/until they change on their own, they won't stop pirating your stuff.
It's the rest of us, the ones that have a bit of money and feel bad when we take for free something that for whatever reason we feel deserves to be paid for, that need to be focused on.
Fixed price points do a spectacularly bad job at serving the sections of the market that agree that something should be paid, but don't happen to think the charged prices are reasonable. It's these people who are relevant to the argument I posted above, and there's a lot of money there that's being lost.