Ok, how many time do you have to explain to the people that run online media divisions (who, for the most part, aren't really clear pn how online media works) that there's ALWAYS going to be SOMEONE who's going to offer it cheaper or for free? If you're not clear on that, you might want to chat up the RIAA on the finer points.

@Jay:

So how then do you account for the success of the iTunes Music Store? Free is not always better, as all the people who pay their 99 cents rather than dealing with the hassle of P2P file sharing would attest. And that's for music files where the free version is often acoustically identical to the paid version. Or why I subscribe to Vindigo rather than trying to use, say, Citysearch in my phone's web browser… The key will be to make sure that the user experience for paid content is clearly better than the free experience — clean intuitive interfaces that aren't cluttered with infantile design, ad junk, or spam (there's a reason why Google kept and keeps their home page pristine, something that went against the conventional wisdom of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink portal model of its contemporary competitors) along with original content that can't be replicated by any number of Op-Ed-Only bloggers.