Podcasts: For free or not for free?

Paul Marszalek writes:  "... My concern is that we could be writing the same story today about public radio. We would describe how new delivery systems are allowing public radio listeners, like the former customers of record companies, movie theaters and phone companies, to bypass the local affiliates and the current business model.  ¶  Some media professionals are running scared. They’ve come to believe, sometimes reluctantly, the Internet utopian article of faith that informational content on the Web can and must be free. I don’t believe mainstream Americans truly share that view. We spend millions online — buying iTunes, airline tickets and all kinds of products. But we won’t object if somebody offers us valuable content for free. ..."  Link:  Current.  An email about this article that I received this morning reminded me that I hadn't followed through with my intention to link to it two months ago.  These days, if there's more than 24 hours between intention and execution, it doesn't happen.  Anyway, this is a thoughtful article that deserves a wide audience.  We'd never give away CD's or DVD's which, like online, have incremental costs that scale differently than the "cost of 1 = the cost of 1 million" broadcast model.  --Dennis