Oct 13 2010
Response: Free
Anderson’s Free is an interesting read for those of us studying the changes in digital media. This week I asked about how the concepts of a free market will change how we use the internet. The best example I can think of is one that Anderson used in the book about internet advertising. Old systems of advertising do not work for the Internet. Google uses ads for cars next to articles about cars. A print medium would not use this system because it would infer a lack of credibility.
I think the important question here is why? What is the difference between a print source and an internet source? Do we just automatically assume that those who write Internet content are have sold their souls to the devil (aka advertisers)? I guess so. Maybe we have place more trust in print sources, even now. I believe more in the New York Times than I do in Google for news information.
I think its a generational thing. I also asked about how notions of “free” affect how we think about things like piracy and open source software. I think that those of us who have grown up with the Internet see information as free to use. Why pay for something when you can rip it off? We don’t see it as stealing. I would never go into a store and steal a CD, but I have downloaded music illegally (although I pay for it now through iTunes). Because I’m able to read the New York Times for free or watch TV on Hulu for free, I don’t see why I should pay for other content, like movies or music. I’d rather let the advertisers pay for that.
I’d predict that eventually, all content will move to a free market. I can see a time in the future where third-party systems pay for the things we want to download and keep. I don’t think we will ever revert back to old notions of free like “buy one get one free” or “free gift.” I think that the new systems make much more sense for the way we consume media. Anderson’s examples of how Apple makes money not from selling the music, but from selling the iPods. Prices for iPods will stay expensive so that maybe downloads can one day move to free. Its difficult to predict how notions of free will change with evolution of the Internet, but I believe that Anderson hit on some important points and probed some interesting questions in his book.