Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked about micropayments:
... are there some relevant or parallel experiences that might
serve as models for exploration?
As I said in a previous message, micropayments will fail. Clay Shirky
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html
mentioned `three principal solutions'
aggregation, subscription, and subsidy - that are used
individually or in combination. ....
Warren, in your case it looks to me that you would need to aggregate
your services as an editor and provide them by subscription.
You would sell your services as someone able to choose content to
customers who are a part of the `long tail'.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
By aggregating your choices, you deal with the question of whether a
particular choice is worth a quarter or less to a customer; by selling
through subscriptions, you provide your customers a known cost.
The online content you would provide gratis.
You would charge for printed books and CDs, which are `rivalrous'
resources.
Like a shirt, if you have a book, I do not have it. You can loan me
the book and the shirt, but then you have neither. Your and my use
_rival_ each other's. On the other hand, you can manufacture a copy
of any online collection of bytes, whether it be a program, book, or
song, and give it to me (on line) so cheaply that it is, in effect,
non-rivalrous.
(Incidentally, you might consider printing or stamping rivalrous goods
`on demand'; I do not know whether the technology is up to it yet,
maybe ....
(Bear in mind that over much of the planet, the law does not help a
small business maintain a monopoly when production costs are low.
http://www.rattlesnake.com/notions/developing-extralegal.html
(In the US and similar places where laws are somewhat enforced, Apple
sells songs on line. Also Apple sells convenience: often, it is more
convenient for people to get the tunes from them than from other
sources.
(From Apple's corporate point of view, the music sales do not make
much money; profits are only in millions of US dollars. The sales are
mainly a device for inspiring people to purchase hardware such as
iPods.)
I do not know whether you could make a living aggregating your
services and selling them by subscription. Perhaps there are people
in your business who are willing to offer editorial choices free of
charge. If so, and if their choices are more or less `as good as'
yours, then you cannot make a living.
On the other hand, if your services are better, than you may be able
to make a living. Or part of a living, the rest coming from selling
rivalrous items.
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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