Ethics Question

[rowyn]

So, Amazon's resolution for the "we gave you the wrong album" problem was to refund my money. Which is fine.

But this leaves me with an ethical question. If Amazon had told me "sorry for shiiping you the wrong CD, here's your money back" without asking me to ship the CD back, I would feel free to keep the CD shipped in error and use it as I wished: their error, their solution.

In this case, however, there was no physical product to return. Amazon didn't ask me to delete the MP3s, but they didn't say 'feel free to keep them', either. So my question is: should I delete the mp3s anyway, under the assumption that Amazon isn't paying their wholesaler for the sale? Or should I keep them, under the assumption that Amazon is eating the cost of the error? I'll probably end up doing the former -- I think Amazon would've sent a return lable if this had been a real media situation, so I suspect that's how they're treating it on their end -- but it's a curious artifact of the digital age.

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

IF it was a CD, and Amazon was willing to pay to ship it back, you are returning something that cna be sold correctly again. In physical items, there is a finite supply.

With files, 1 or a billion copies are the same as far as supply goes.

My solution would be to listen to it and decide if you like a couple fo the songs. If you do, buy a couple of them from Amazon. If not, why waste the drive space? You can even buy the entire album if you like it, though probably only a couple of songs are all that interest you (if that).

[rowyn]

I'm rather inclined to do that; there are a few tracks off of it that I like, but I don't care for the rest.