“The TV networks saw an opportunity in this failing and created a competing video service, Hulu. It offers mostly commercial video, most of it taken from TV, but it is as convenient and accessible as YouTube. Because the content is a known quantity, often the same thing advertisers are already buying on TV, they’re happy to insert their commercials as pre-rolls, post-rolls, and even interruptions in the programming. It’s free, of course, but unlike on YouTube, you’re paying something in time and annoyance—just like on regular TV. However, if it’s 30 Rock you want, and you want it now, in your browser, this is the simplest way you’re going to get it.

The YouTube model is totally free — free to watch, free to upload your own video, free of interruptions. But it doesn’t make money. Hulu is only free to watch, and you have to pay the good old-fashioned way, by watching ads you may or may not care about. Yet it generates healthy revenue. These two video outlets illustrate the tension between different variations on the free business model. Although consumers may prefer 100 percent free, a little artificial scarcity is the best way to make money.”

The Book Free: ‘The Future of a Radical Price’ from Wired Editor in Chief Chris Anderson is available for 26.99 $, but – would be a paradox if not – you can download the audiobook for FREE from the website.