The Debate Continues

The paid content debate continues on Online Writing List. This particular post (again, there’s no easy way to link to it, but it is titled “Re: Micropayments”) enumerates usability/business model issues of Micropayment: “What users need is the ability to say, ‘Yes, in this instance, for this particular bit of content, I am willing to pay this small amount.’ If the Internet can adopt a business model that is more like a newsstand (where you can get a few copies of whatever you want) than a circulation department (where you can get a subscription to whatever they happen to carry), I bet paid content would take off.”

Something similar was tried by Contentville, but it failed, for various reasons, of course.