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The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not

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Mavisdu1017
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   08 Apr 2022, 06:39
IanStewart wrote:
Mavisdu1017 wrote:
IanStewart Sorry expert I don’t agree with your explanation. If a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority illegal case, and exactly these minority of individuals are sued and charged (as the passage says the number of individuals who will be charged with a crime is so limite), it will have a significant impact (but not minimal impact) on the number of people who downloaded illegally. This ideed addresses to the the number of people but not the the number of downloads. Mind to explain further? Thanks


I agree that charging the minority who do most of the downloading could have a significant affect on the amount of downloading. But I don't follow why you conclude that will have a significant impact on the number of people downloading.

If there are 100 people who download illegally, and 1 person is responsible for 90% of the illegal downloads, and the other 99 people are only responsible for 10%, then if you charge that 1 person, you'll reduce the amount of illegal downloading by 90%. But you'll only reduce the number of downloaders by 1%, because the other 99 people will still be downloading, and it's the number of downloaders the question asks about (here I'm assuming that the person stops downloading if they're prosecuted).


IanStewart It’s clear and much thanks for your example.
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   08 Apr 2022, 07:01
IanStewart wrote:
Mavisdu1017 wrote:
IanStewart Sorry expert I don’t agree with your explanation. If a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority illegal case, and exactly these minority of individuals are sued and charged (as the passage says the number of individuals who will be charged with a crime is so limite), it will have a significant impact (but not minimal impact) on the number of people who downloaded illegally. This ideed addresses to the the number of people but not the the number of downloads. Mind to explain further? Thanks


I agree that charging the minority who do most of the downloading could have a significant effect on the amount of downloading. But I don't follow why you conclude that will have a significant impact on the number of people downloading.

If there are 100 people who download illegally, and 1 person is responsible for 90% of the illegal downloads, and the other 99 people are only responsible for 10%, then if you charge that 1 person, you'll reduce the amount of illegal downloading by 90%. But you'll only reduce the number of downloaders by 1%, because the other 99 people will still be downloading, and it's the number of downloaders the question asks about (here I'm assuming that the person stops downloading if they're prosecuted).

edit: fixed a typo (I wrote "affect" instead of "effect")


IanStewart it’s clear and much thanks for your example.
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   08 Apr 2022, 08:07
AndrewN

I read your earlier thread of sticking to the official questions.
But since I was so engrossed in this one too that I couldn't resist to ask.

I want you to share your reasoning for options B and C. Both seem a fine choice to me.
My reasoning is below. May be you can evaluate the same and share your two cents.

Option B:-
Variance Test:-
Yes, a small number is responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads, then doesn't this weaken the claim that the recording industry won't have a minimal impact.
On the other hand, if we take a No a small minority is not responsible but a larger majority is responsible then the impact will be minimal.

Option C:-
Yes, many individuals who download music share their files with other internet users then the impact won't be minimal, but if they don't share then the impact would be minimal.

Both are looking correct answers to me :P
Please evaluate where am I going wrong.
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   09 Apr 2022, 09:07
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krndatta wrote:
AndrewN

I read your earlier thread of sticking to the official questions.
But since I was so engrossed in this one too that I couldn't resist to ask.

I want you to share your reasoning for options B and C. Both seem a fine choice to me.
My reasoning is below. May be you can evaluate the same and share your two cents.

Option B:-
Variance Test:-
Yes, a small number is responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads, then doesn't this weaken the claim that the recording industry won't have a minimal impact.
On the other hand, if we take a No a small minority is not responsible but a larger majority is responsible then the impact will be minimal.

Option C:-
Yes, many individuals who download music share their files with other internet users then the impact won't be minimal, but if they don't share then the impact would be minimal.

Both are looking correct answers to me :P
Please evaluate where am I going wrong.

Hello, krndatta. I am satisfied with the responses provided above by IanStewart and Bunuel, not to mention others by non-Experts that touch on how (B) and (C) focus on downloads, rather than on the number of people who illegally download music, per the argument. You may want to study these types of answer choices that invoke quantitative measures—a small minority, the majority, many, and so on—so that you can see just how frequently GMAC™ likes to pull the wool over our eyes. Bottom line: if the content of an answer choice is something other than what a conclusion may touch on, then that answer choice is most likely off-topic. (Again, you still have to think matters through.)

- Andrew
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The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   26 Dec 2022, 21:48
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AndrewN

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I am having some trouble identifying the main conclusion of the argument.

Final conclusion according to me is - 1. "The recording industry is fighting a losing battle"
However, I can see that the final conclusion per OE is - 2. "Because X, the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the
number of people who illegally download music"

I used the therefore test -

Is 1 because of 2, or is 2 because of 1 -

1 because of 2 makes much more sense and hence had some difficulties marking the correct answer.

Can any one please explain why are we considering 2 and not 1 as the final conclusion.
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   12 Jan 2023, 07:43
AndrewN / IanStewart - How to identify the [C] of this argument.

I identified the [C]: the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

But it seems to be an "intermediate [C], given it supports the main [C]: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle

Please correct me. I got this question correct by identifying that the " the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music" is the main [C] but I am not convinced if that is the case ....
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   12 Jan 2023, 08:00
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IN2MBB2PE wrote:
How to identify the [C] of this argument.

I identified the [C]: the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

But it seems to be an "intermediate [C], given it supports the main [C]: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle

Please correct me. I got this question correct by identifying that the " the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music" is the main [C] but I am not convinced if that is the case ....


I think you're right -- the main conclusion of the argument is really "the industry is fighting a losing battle", but the answer choices address the intermediate conclusion about "the number of people" downloading music. So it really should be more carefully worded, to make it clear just exactly what conclusion we're meant to evaluate. It's a prep company question, and while I'd say it's a genuinely useful practice question (unlike most prep company Verbal questions, which aren't even worth looking at), it isn't as careful about structure as an official question would be.
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   14 Jan 2023, 07:28
IanStewart wrote:
IN2MBB2PE wrote:
How to identify the [C] of this argument.

I identified the [C]: the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

But it seems to be an "intermediate [C], given it supports the main [C]: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle

Please correct me. I got this question correct by identifying that the " the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music" is the main [C] but I am not convinced if that is the case ....


I think you're right -- the main conclusion of the argument is really "the industry is fighting a losing battle", but the answer choices address the intermediate conclusion about "the number of people" downloading music. So it really should be more carefully worded, to make it clear just exactly what conclusion we're meant to evaluate. It's a prep company question, and while I'd say it's a genuinely useful practice question (unlike most prep company Verbal questions, which aren't even worth looking at), it isn't as careful about structure as an official question would be.


Thanks Ian, it makes sense now!
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The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   22 May 2023, 02:01
IanStewart AndrewN sir, I understand why B is the correct choice but in E I am confused regarding the usage of "alter the behaviour", I mean we don't know how will threat of prosecution "alter" ? like in a positive or negative manner. what if these downloaders gets more notorious and even starts downloading more or expands their community? In that case this choice will fall apart. Had it been given that surely threat of prosecution will make these downloaders NOT download anymore then it would have made perfect sense without any confusion.

Any thoughts?
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink] New post   22 May 2023, 04:23
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KarMishh wrote:
I understand why B is the correct choice but in E I am confused regarding the usage of "alter the behaviour", I mean we don't know how will threat of prosecution "alter" ? like in a positive or negative manner. what if these downloaders gets more notorious and even starts downloading more or expands their community? In that case this choice will fall apart.


The correct choice is E, not B. It seems unlikely to me that the threat of prosecution would make someone more likely, rather than less, to download illegally, but remember what we're trying to do here. We want to know which question, if answered, would most help us evaluate the truth of the conclusion. If we got the answer to question E, and the answer was "yes, the threat of prosecution will make people more likely to download illegally", then we learn that the conclusion is false: the threat of prosecution will have an "impact on the number of people who illegally download music." It would just be an "impact" in the opposite direction from what the music industry wants. So even if that turned out to be the answer to the question posed in choice E, it would still help us evaluate the conclusion, and E would still be a good answer to this CR question.
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Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [#permalink]
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