Re: UKNM: Subscriptions

[Stefan Magdalinski]

Chris Heathcote wrote:

> 

> At 1:39 pm -0400 on 10/6/99, Clay Shirky wrote:

> 

> >Well, sure, but this isn't the question anymore. The real question now

> >is who will pay for anything online given the amount of free content?

> >

> >Put another way, what services have such low substitutability that

> >they can charge for access?

> 

> Yes, there's lots of free content out there.

> 

> But how much is worth the bytes it's written in?

> 

> If you spend any time searching the Web for information, you realise

> how almost any decent information either isn't there or isn't free

> (or isn't easily found).

> 

> For me, Usenet is the nearest you get to a comprehensive information

> source: and yet there are many times, certainly when it gets down to

> details and specifics, that no-one's willing to give information for

> free (certain technical communities are the exception).

> 

> >Doubt it. In the real world, its expensive to build a distribution

> >network. Here, its free, so what it comes down to is competition for

> >eyeballs. If Company X (e.g. Slate, AOL) charges for something and

> >Company Y (e.g Salon, Freeserve), then Y grows at the expense of X.

> 

> Or in economic terms, perfect competition: a completely level playing

> field, with every company churning out a nearly generic product. In

> this situation, every company is a price-taker - in this case, free.

> 

> But information isn't a generic product. You pay for quality

> information. We've always done this, and although the Internet

> negates a lot of information inaccessibilty (due to geography), you

> still consume paid-for information, whether on dead wood or in bits

> and bytes.

> 

> Content is still the killer app of the Web, and if people want

> content, they'll pay for content.


rubbish. 


I used to buy Time Out. I use www.thisislondon.com


I used to have an A-Z. I use www.multimap.com


I used to buy newspapers. I read about 20 news sites from around the

globe.


I used to read Adbusters, now I've got UKNM.


content is getting cheaper by the day, by the hour, by the minute. 


stefan



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