Inconsistency between perceptual traits of sensory and cognitive rationality

I cannot forget the moment at which I could download unlimited music files from the Napster without paying any money for those in 2000. There was a debate at that time whether music in MP3 format could be shared with others through a web host at no cost. For a while, people have taken for granted free consumption of music files, and there have been inertia to resist paying for this music files which anyone could get from many websites for free. There are still many file sharing websites now, but the perception that MP3 music files are free has changed dramatically. People are willing to pay for their music files on iTunes. This example shows that consumer behavior can change over time.

The article about ‘online news is a ramen noodle’ indicates how human behavior is hardly changed. In spite of the fact that information delivered both on print and website of traditional newspaper are almost identical, people are reluctant to pay for online news contents, which have been considered as free stuffs. So, their response brings a question of whether medium matters in their decision making. The survey results showed that people prefer medium to print, which is contrary to the recent trend of declining newspaper readership. I assume that there is an unresolved issue to be explained why strong preference to the print does not stop declining newspaper readership.

I assume that it is because preference to the print is a perceptual trait of human behavior.  People have been 

accustomed to read print version of papers for a long time. They do not forget the feeling of flipping pages. Since technology is an extension of human sensory, print medium has been a part of our sensory, which is optimized to read news. And, unconsciously, our sensory remembers old time traits. On the other hand, our cognitive rationality forces us not to pay for free news contents. Since nobody is paying for free news, why do we need to pay for the free contents? I believe that there is inconsistency between our cognitive rationality and perceptual trait of sensory.

As music industry claimed a copy right for music, similar action is required for news contents. Those contents are intellectual products of private company. Even though newspapers are devoting themselves for virtue of society, pursuing profits is quite natural for private companies. Therefore, their copy rights should be protected by a law, which will prevent individuals from copying and pasting news contents at their own. If newspapers cannot claim their right for their products, why are they not eligible for government subsidy in exchange with abandonment of copy right? There is no single private company who lays back and takes for granted the violation of their rights. Moreover, it will be fair to compare the willingness to pay for contents between online and print based on the same condition that people need to pay for same contents. It will be interesting to see which medium is chosen from the public.