I really enjoyed the articles and video assigned for this blog post. Everyone seems to have sort of an understanding as to why the internet is free and how e-commerce has changed so many aspects of buying and selling, but not many have the full understanding of why we dont pay for it.
In Wired.com’s “Free!” article, Chris Anderson explains how the business model of how giving something for nothing hooks marketable people. They have no reason to not at-least try it right? Giving away software such as web browsers seems like a huge profit loss for developers, but gaining a large amount of users and selling ad space makes up the difference in profits. Your basic version of whatever software is free. developers hope you like enough to buy the “upgrade package” that includes more fancy toys and options to make the thing you already like better.
I also really liked the ida of The Long Tail. As described in another Chris Anderson article, The Long Tail gives producers of goods a viable way to insert there product in to a market ruled by major groups of retailers and product lines.
For instance Netflix gives users a way to watch several documentaries and B-side films that local stores like Blockbuster simply cant house. Amazon.com was a pioneer in the long-tail game by giving consumers a way to purchase numerous amounts of books that local bookstores simply wont have ont he shelf. It evened the playing field per se.
This idea has become extremely relevant in the music industry thanks to digitalization of music distribution. I remember when all of the music i owned was in a large black case full of CD’s. Outside of that case there was the radio, or my friends black cases of purchased CD’s. We only knew what was thrown at us, and living in a north Austin Suburb not many exciting musical acts were thrown my way.
Now all i have to to do get a new album is find it on whichever website, click the link, and wait a few minutes. I dont fully appreciate any of it and i can’t wait to find something else. The playing field of just mainstream artist’s ruling consumers ears are over. Of coarse that correlation fits in any entertainment media field.
The idea of getting things for free is somewhat peculiar if you think about it. I almost got upset because a coffee shop I visited didn’t have free WiFi so I could write this post. A few years ago I would have been amazed that the place offered it. New media things are being taken for granted and are becoming part of the daily life that starts to disappear. There are good and bad parts to the whole concept, even in this post. I dont think there is anything anyone can do to reverse any of the progress, to make people pay. All we can do is figure out how to make money by giving things away, and how to benefit off of what others give to us.
