If you're talking about a pas de deux with 8 cues, of course that's a lot of money. But almost no one would bother to "translate" a single show like that. On the other hand, if you wanted to combine 9 pas de deux into a single console "show", with cues starting at 101, 201, 301, and so on, of course I would not charge that amount for each of the nine shows. It's negotiable, depending on the overall situation. Naturally, the "value" is more obvious when you're talking about an opera or musical, with 600 channels and 250 cues.
Please keep in mind that translating a show is not always a simple, fast procedure. For many translations, I have to wait while re-booting my computer (thank you, Microsoft®) at least four times, and need to run three or four programs. Yes, this sure beats (and is more accurate than) having one member of your crew or staff sitting at the light board for four hours or more.
I hope you're willing to consider that besides my time (and after all, I could go look for a day's work in a theater), I deserve some compensation for the hundreds of hours spent writing the programs I use in these translations. As manufacturers change details of their boards, these programs also need maintenance and improvement. I don't think anyone can suggest that I haven't shared my knowledge, both on The Light Network and by posting free programs on this web site.
It's a topic for another essay, but that's the beginning of the answer to the your question "Why don't you just sell me the programs I need to do my translations?" It has much more to do with selling enough copies at a "fair" price than it does with any desire to keep the technology to myself. There are also the practical difficulties (mentioned in the second paragraph above) you'd face when using the program(s), and the complex issues of software piracy.
I also have the same costs you'd have in doing business: My computers, my ISP, paying all 15+% of FICA taxes due on self-employment income, office supplies, and so on. I'm not trying to paint a tear-jerking story of hardship; I'm just making it clear that show translation is not comparable to editing an existing document in a word processor and mailing out a diskette.
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