Chris Anderson brings attention to the issues, which is great. But I usually end up disagreeing with his analysis. The long tail is not the result of a power law. This new free stuff is similarly sort of interesting, but leaves too many questions unanswered.

Here's an observation about advertising supported websites that almost everyone can agree with: Ads slow us down in using and digesting content. In order to be effective, they must.

What Anderson and others who share views like his don't adequately account for is the TIME we spend dealing with ads. There's a reason that offline media offers ad-free content (in the form of movies and books) along with ad-laden content (in the form of t.v. and magazines). Some people put a higher premium on their time. Others on their money. Time and money are not perfect substitutes.

Anyway Rupert Murdoch at least figured this out when he kept WSJ on a subscription model. Eventually others will follow.