Wired editor on free media

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, talks about his new book and his notion that media companies can succeed in today’s marketplace by charging consumers little or nothing, in the December issue of Media magazine.

He compares online tools and software to the media market and says music and video games will become free. He states that nobody wants to read an entire book online…we have to agree with that.
Anderson also comments on the newspaper and magazine model, saying “Most media has always been free to air. They say that if you understand why they sell newspapers in boxes that don’t limit the number of copies you can take, you understand the newspaper business. They aren’t selling newspapers. They’re selling audiences to advertisers. [Magazines] charge a nominal price that is as close to zero as possible to incentivize the largest number of people to subscribe, but not so close to zero that it makes the product look de-valued. But it has no relation to the underlying costs.”
Read the entire article here.