IAN! Happy New Year, man!

This forum and the people in it are without question adding to the sales AND VALUE of RPG products, be they hardcopy or PDF. Companies like RPGNow have us at least in part to thank; we draw in new members and players, and regularly steer them to places like that. You could argue that they would be virtually UNKNOWN if not for places like this. Additionally, to charge $5 for a PDF of a common module is insulting; I can get the hardcopy for cheaper in most cases. So, in my useless and nonhumble opinion, I am OK with any of us having and using PDFs of items for gaming or reading, even if we don't own the item. There is not a hell of a lot I haven't owned at one point or another, and none of us is selling PDFs. None of us is going to pay for a PDF of Keep on the Borderlands, partly because we own/have owned it, partly because free PDFs ARE available, and partly because our interest in them is reading/gaming.
Everyone here has illegally used MP3's, and that DOES directly impact sales of recordings. So, if I decide to use a PDF of B3, I have no issues with it. The price of the PDF is probably the same as a hardcopy, and even if not, like I said, in my mind they owe us. To the best of my knowledge, none of the PDF sellers has ever donated to the Acaeum, one of the very places that keeps them in existence. It is a case of bare minimal if any damage done when one of us has a PDF, and again, the sellers of them aren't high in my ranking right now.
So, fuck 'em.
The reason I am weighing in on this is that I am liquidating just about all of my hardcopies aside from super-thrashed stuff to use for gaming. I want them to be out there and used/collected by others, especially new generations, to foster interest in the game and collecting. However, I want to be able to run my kids through modules. Therefore, I "may" have acquired some PDFs in order to do so. Some of the ones I want, like L3 Deep Dwarven Delve, I haven't found yet, but in the case of that one I'm not even sure a "legal" PDF exists, and TSR already made their profit on the sale of my hardcopy.

Echohawk wrote in PDFs vs originals and their impact on collecting...:I don't mind spending money on a PDF of something I already own. I have, in fact, paid money for a legal PDF of Keep on the Borderlands even though I already have several print copies. There is value to me in having a searchable electronic copy.

If I recall correctly, the copyright laws allow for you to make a copy (for private, personal use only) of something you already own.