I recently read Free by Chris Anderson and since the book has been out for a while, I’m not going to write a review. I am going to write about a section of this book I found interesting and how it affects my life.
The section of this book dealing with freemium had the biggest impact on my day to day life. I use freemium products everyday and I never pay for them. It’s not that I don’t want to pay for them or think they are worth my money, I just can’t. Many of them make my life infinitely easier and would be worth a monthly subscription. At this point in my life, I just can’t afford to pay.
I guess that is the magic of freemium. Those who are able and willing to pay, pay and in turn support those who can’t. I’d like to think that at some point down the line I’ll be in a place where I can return the cosmic favor and pay for a freemium product so someone else can enjoy the benefits. I wonder though, after all that time of getting incredibly useful products for free, will I get cold feet when it’s time to cough up my own dough? Will I still see the benefit of supporting a quality product, while at the same time allowing someone else to receive its benefits for free?
I’m not doubting the freemium system at all, it’s obviously a very effective system. I’m just wondering if I will become spoiled from years of free use of effective services and then feel like I’m being ripped off when I go to pay for them.
Anyway, it’s a great book and you should check it out.
Have any of you read the book yet? If so, what did you think? If not, did my little tangent make you want to read it?
-Dennis
Full Disclosure – I have no affiliation with the author of this book or the publisher.
