http://rev2.disqus.com/enThu, 05 Jun 2008 10:25:23 -0000http://www.rev2.org/2008/06/04/mindbites-premium-how-to-videos/#comment-598751Thanks for the post Sid, and for daring to discuss the blasphemy that all content on the web may (gasp) not be "free" for all of eternity. (I use quotations since apparently the word free has been expanded to include everything from renting, to subsidized, to being bombarded by advertising these days.)<br><br>History has shown that publishing has always been a spectrum of models from ad-supported to pay per content and every mixture in between. Entertainment content tended to be more ad-supported — e.g. when you wanted to be entertained you flipped on the tv or radio, while instructional content tended to be pay for content — when you need to learn something you buy a book, take a class, or spend a lot of time figuring it out yourself.<br><br>You are correct though, that our single price point may be a little high for some content. We chose to start with a single price point at $1.99 combined with a credit system for both user simplicity as well as handling financial transaction costs (since credit cards still take more than a quarter out of a $1 transaction). But we have always viewed this as a starting point to explore many different pricing and market mechanisms. Interestingly, we are not the only ones experimenting with different models, since Borders recently announced a model where they would offer written how-to content online for free but ask people to pay for the ability to download it.<br><br>Truth be told, as a platform, we do plan to allow authors to offer ad-supported content, as well as other marketing alternative in the coming months. We just chose to start with the thing which they simply couldn’t so anywhere else — Create something valuable and get compensated directly for doing it.jreneauThu, 05 Jun 2008 10:25:23 -0000