fkeel:
about "something being wrong with the system:"let me try to show you an example of what I mean
lets start with your statement that "piracy will not stop". I agree. Everything which follows is a result of that thought.
I think on a small scale, you will also agree to the consequences I personally draw from that:
I (as a recording artist) assume that people will copy my work anyway. I still want to distribute my music. I have two options
a) I try to go to court with the people who illegally took my work. This incriminates my customers, so I think its not a smart thing to do. After all, I want them to stay my customers for a long time.
b) I try to leverage the fact that my music has been copied so many times. I think this is the better choice, as it will not alienate me from my customers. I organize a party where my music is played or where I perform (with a door charge of course), I offer that anyone can bring a copy of my CD and for 2.50€ I sign it for them (I actually think this would work :-D).As a small recording artist, I believe option b) to be 100% preferable. It is also preferable over having nobody stealing my music on the internet, as my music would never have become popular enough to do the event I described without file sharing. I see it as a win-win situation.
(this is actually almost a real life example. I recently figured out, that an old band of mine has become quite popular in poland, for reasons beyond my comprehension (enabled by illegal file sharing). Right now I am contemplating what to do about it.)
I think on the small scale my reasoning is obvious and there is little to dispute on that. On a large scale, I believe that we would all be better off if the creative industry also would find creative solutions to the problem of piracy.
I am not saying piracy is the creative industries fault.
Does that clear my standpoint up a bit, when I talk about "there is something wrong with the system" ?
For your scenario, as the copyright holder I have no problem with whatever you choose. In my own case, as a programmer, I simply make what I write 'open source' and sell my labor. That said, the industry has been making efforts to provide its paying customers with what they want--this is one reason that companies (Such as Apple, and Amazon) do exist that provide authorized copies of that media. The problem is that no matter what accommodation the industry makes the pirates (or some significant number of them) will continue their theft. This is why the examples where the IP is provided either very cheaply, or as a 'Try before you buy' are still stolen, almost always in greater numbers than what is actually purchased.
My point is that nothing the creators of the content can do will prevent the theft. The thieves are moral bankrupt and nothing about the system is what creates their theft.