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Free: The Future of a Radical Price Hardcover – July 7, 2009

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 377 ratings

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The New York Times bestselling author heralds the future of business in Free.

In his revolutionary bestseller, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates niche markets, allowing products and consumers to connect in a way that has never been possible before. Now, in Free, he makes the compelling case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. Far more than a promotional gimmick, Free is a business strategy that may well be essential to a company's survival.

The costs associated with the growing online economy are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long. Just think that in 1961, a single transistor cost $10; now Intel's latest chip has two billion transistors and sells for $300 (or 0.000015 cents per transistor--effectively too cheap to price). The traditional economics of scarcity just don't apply to bandwidth, processing power, and hard-drive storage.

Yet this is just one engine behind the new Free, a reality that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy. Anderson also points to the growth of the reputation economy; explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you're trying to sell.

In Free, Chris Anderson explores this radical idea for the new global economy and demonstrates how this revolutionary price can be harnessed for the benefit of consumers and businesses alike.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all, argues Anderson (The Long Tail). He illustrates how savvy businesses are raking it in with indirect routes from product to revenue with such models as cross-subsidies (giving away a DVR to sell cable service) and freemiums (offering Flickr for free while selling the superior FlickrPro to serious users). New media models have allowed successes like Obama's campaign billboards on Xbox Live, Webkinz dolls and Radiohead's name-your-own-price experiment with its latest album. A generational and global shift is at play—those below 30 won't pay for information, knowing it will be available somewhere for free, and in China, piracy accounts for about 95% of music consumption—to the delight of artists and labels, who profit off free publicity through concerts and merchandising. Anderson provides a thorough overview of the history of pricing and commerce, the mental transaction costs that differentiate zero and any other price into two entirely different markets, the psychology of digital piracy and the open-source war between Microsoft and Linux. As in Anderson's previous book, the thought-provoking material is matched by a delivery that is nothing short of scintillating. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Although Chris Anderson puts forward an intriguing argument in this cheerful, optimistic book, many critics remained unconvinced. They praised his engaging writing style, his amusing examples and anecdotes, and his clear explanations of complicated concepts and technologies, but they still questioned his conclusions. In addition to Anderson's own admission that YouTube -- one of his chief examples -- has been a financial black hole for Google, reviewers cited their own examples of industries that seem to run counter to Free's generalizations, such as broadcast television's fiscal struggles in the face of premium cable's expansion. Though some trends seem to point in the direction of Free, the jury remains out for the present.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hyperion; First Edition (July 7, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1401322905
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1401322908
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1220L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 377 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
377 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and informative. It provides useful insights into economic principles and business models, with examples that are easy to understand. Readers appreciate the author's clear writing style and the insightful anecdotes. Overall, they consider it a worthwhile read with valuable information and insights.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

28 customers mention "Readability"28 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and informative. They say it's a good read for recording artists trying to understand what is happening. The book does an excellent job of outlining how to give away things for free. It's a quick read and appealing for some business readers.

"...This was exactly my reaction. Nevertheless, the book was worth reading. My favorite key points: "..." Read more

"...will forever live in the shadow of The Long Tail, it too is an important book and in many ways it is a much better one...." Read more

"...for an insightful and illuminating business book, a pleasant way to spend a few down hours, or a great source of interesting facts and anecdotes to..." Read more

"...It's an interesting read, the the author is entertaining enough to hold your attention, but I must say I found his usage of the word "free" to be..." Read more

20 customers mention "Value for money"17 positive3 negative

Customers find the book insightful and valuable for business owners. It provides a clear look at the digital economy and freemium models, and offers practical advice on how to make money from them. Readers appreciate the author's effort to defend free pricing tactics. Overall, they describe it as an interesting discussion of the business models and economics of free.

"...He does a splendid job in Free of creating a taxonomy of free-oriented business models to guide discussions about these issues...." Read more

"...it's at least given me quite a bit to think about and the price was certainly right, since at the time I downloaded it was, naturally, free...." Read more

"...It contains numerous money making ideas. Do not treat it lightly! You can get the audiobook still free at Chris' blog (long tail) :" Read more

"...The book touches psychology and economics to explain mind barriers and why people bright his eyes when see free...." Read more

19 customers mention "Insight"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and well-written. They appreciate the interesting ideas and anecdotes presented in a concise way. The book is informative and thought-provoking, with rich examples and detailed descriptions. It provides an interesting take on new developments brought by the internet.

"...historical treatment of the issues is outstanding and includes many entertaining examples of how these "free" strategies have been used over time to..." Read more

"...But if you are looking for an insightful and illuminating business book, a pleasant way to spend a few down hours, or a great source of interesting..." Read more

"...Very insightful stuff ...." Read more

"...I found the beginning of the book interesting where the concept of giving something away to create a market was described, particularly early and..." Read more

14 customers mention "Writing style"14 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's writing style engaging and understandable. They appreciate the author's ability to express ideas clearly and concisely, making it a quick read with common concepts.

"Free is a well-written book by Chris Anderson, the editor of my favorite magazine, Wired...." Read more

"...Anderson writes in the light, hip, highly understandable style one would expect from Wired magazine's editor-in-chief...." Read more

"...If you buy this very readible book, read and digest it. It contains numerous money making ideas. Do not treat it lightly!..." Read more

"...The book is well written and engaging. It's a quick read and will be appealing for some business readers most especially because it is not dry and..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2009
    Free is a well-written book by Chris Anderson, the editor of my favorite magazine, Wired. The style and tone of the book is much like the long articles in Wired magazine. If you like those long articles and are interested in pricing models of various businesses, you will like this book. If not, it may be too much detail. (Some have quibbled with his use of Wikipedia for research, to me, it fits in with his thesis that information wants to be free, and takes nothing from his work.)

    Anderson's thesis is that "making money around free will be the future of business." In the digital world, marginal costs are near-zero, in contrast to the world of "atoms." As he states in his book, for many, especially the generation that has grown up with the internet, "the response is usually `And?' It seems self-evident to them." This was exactly my reaction. Nevertheless, the book was worth reading.

    My favorite key points:

    "Between 1980 and 1990, the world's population grew by more than 800 million. But by September 1990, without a single exception, the price of (various metals) had fallen, and in some cases had dropped through the floor." Great argument against all the commodity bulls.

    The same "genius" that predicted commodity prices to go up also predicted famines of "unprecedented proportions." This looks ridiculous now, with the massive obesity epidemic. The author slyly notes this genius still received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award. Great point about how so-called experts are awful at making accurate predictions.

    "Simon complained that, for some reason he could never comprehend, people were inclined to believe the worst about anything and everything; they were immune to contrary evidence just as if they'd been medically vaccinated against the force of fact." I often wonder about this myself. In a slow economy, we read all the doomsayers saying, "we're in a big hole." Yet we always come out of it in time.

    More data for the scarcity crowd: "Today basic necessities such as clothing can be made so cheaply as to be essentially disposable." The author explains that in 1900 a man's T-shirt cost about $1 wholesale. Today, that same T-shirt still costs about $1 wholesale, but $1 today is worth about 1/25th of what $1 was worth 100 years ago. Transistors are even more amazing: in 1961, they cost $10, 2 years later $5, and now 0.000015 cents each.

    The author discusses what I have called "The Encarta Complex:" the decline of the encyclopedia industry by Microsoft CD-ROMs, and subsequent total destruction by Wikipedia. In 1991, the market was a $1.2 billion industry. In 1993, Microsoft launched the Encarta CD, and by 1996, the market had shrunk in half to $600 million. In 2009, the market was effectively zero, as Microsoft stopped selling Encarta altogether, as Wikipedia was free.

    So is all of industry doomed to failure, as all prices approach zero? How do businesses compete with the inevitable downward pressure on prices? Anderson answers: "But the short form is that it's easy to compete with free: simply offer something better or at least different from the free version. There is a reason why office workers walk past the free coffee in the kitchen to go out and spend $4 for a venti latte at Starbucks - the Starbucks coffee tastes better."

    Because the dinosaurs like newspapers and telecom companies don't recognize this reality, and don't want to change, Anderson concludes: "Your voice mail inbox is full" is the death rattle of an industry stuck with a scarcity model in a world of capacity abundance.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2010
    Chris Anderson's 2006 book The Long Tail will be remembered as one of the most influential tech policy books of the decade. It changed the way we talk about the digital marketplace and it instantly garnered a huge audience outside of the nerdy world of Internet policy. While Free: The Future of a Radical Price will forever live in the shadow of The Long Tail, it too is an important book and in many ways it is a much better one.

    In The Long Tail, Anderson tried too hard to invent the latest business theory du jour, and in doing so he went much too far in proclaiming that, as the subtitle of the book argued, "the future of the business is selling less of more." That's just not true. While there's certainly a lot more action in the long tail than ever before since it is so much more accessible, that does not mean the entire future of business lies in "selling less of more." To the contrary, the fat head of the tail is just as profitable as ever.

    Free certainly contains some of the flamboyance on display in The Long Tail, but Anderson has matured as a writer and is now far more willing to point out the limitations of his theories in a business sense. He does a splendid job in Free of creating a taxonomy of free-oriented business models to guide discussions about these issues. And he explains how "free" can be part of many different business models and strategies. His historical treatment of the issues is outstanding and includes many entertaining examples of how these "free" strategies have been used over time to offer innovative new goods and services.

    The reason his book is important for Internet policy discussions is obvious: "free" is increasingly viewed as a threat to many existing companies, industry sectors, and traditional media business models. For example, battles about the future of journalism and search engine indexing of news sites are obviously tied up with battles over "free." And, it goes without saying that the traditional entertainment industry business models are increasingly challenged by "free" as many struggle to adapt to the new realities of the online world, in which "free" (primarily advertising-supported and "freemium" models) seems to be the only model with any legs.

    Much like my top pick for 2008 book of the year, Jonathan Zittrain's The Future of the Net and How to Stop It, Chris Anderson's Free is the most important information technology book of the year because it is the one we will still be talking about the most a decade from now. However, unlike Zittrain's book and thesis, which I think will be largely discredited in another ten years, Anderson's book will likely be viewed as an important and lasting contribution to the field.

    I rated Anderson's "Free" as "The 10 Most Important Info-Tech Policy Book of 2009" over at the Technology Liberation Front blog.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Saurabh Sinha
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good book.
    Reviewed in India on July 22, 2021
    A must read to understand the concept of free. In depth research by the author!
  • Krismanos
    5.0 out of 5 stars Free is priceless
    Reviewed in Japan on September 1, 2018
    This book has shown me on how free can give a lot of benefit to me. As I am planning to write and publish a book, I would plan to give it for free, I guess. Big thanks to the Author. Cheers!
  • Oliver Völckers
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ganz neue Geschäftsmodelle
    Reviewed in Germany on February 18, 2014
    Das Internet hat die Geschäftsmodelle der Musikindustrie und der Medienwirtschaft auf den Kopf gestellt, die Bücher- und Filmbranche befindet sich noch im Umbruch. Wer mit Journalismus oder Software sein Geld verdient, muss sich umstellen. Chris Anderson beschäftigt sich in diesem Buch mit der Frage, mit welchen Waren und Dienstleistungen in Zukunft Geld verdient wird. Er bringt dazu brillante Einsichten und Vorschläge.

    Der Autor argumentiert, dass durch den schnellen Informationsaustausch im Internet seit der Jahrtausendwende ein Überfluss an Daten entstanden ist. Der Wettbewerbsvorsprung früherer Zeiten schrumpft auf ein Minimum, alles wird nachgebaut, abgeschrieben, kopiert. Andererseits ergeben sich ganz neue Möglichkeiten zum Großverdiener. Physische Produkte und persönliche Dienstleistungen haben nach wie vor einen Wert, aber nur, wenn sie der weltweiten Konkurrenz standhalten. Wer sich darauf einstellt, kann gewinnen.

    Anderson bringt als Beispiel Musiker in der Volksrepublik China, deren CDs ohne Erlaubnis von den Kunden vervielfältigt werden. Statt rumzujammern, was sie eh nicht ändern können, nutzen die Stars diesen Effekt, um ihre Popularität zu steigern und leben stattdessen von Live-Konzerten und Fanatikern. Das geht auch. Wie Linux und Wikipedia zeigen, ist es sogar möglich, aus komplett kostenlosen Inhalten ein Geschäft zu machen.

    Große Konzerne leben auch von der Verbreitung unbezahlter Dienstleistungen. So konnte sich Microsoft etablieren, weil Kunden deren professionelle Office-Software für den privaten Gebrauch kopierten, auch in manchen Ländern waren die unautorisiertem Kopien vorherrschend. Indem so ein Standard geschaffen wurde, konnte Microsoft bei den zahlungsfähigen Kunden abkassieren. Auch Webbrowser und Suchmaschinen werden ohne Bezahlung genutzt. Apple verschenkt neuerdings Betriebssysteme und Office-Software und lebt von Verkauf der Hardware.

    In seinem eigenen Unternehmen, das Anderson in seinem Nachfolgebuch "Makers" beschreibt, verkauft der Autor sogenannte Open Source Hardware, d.h. Geräte mitsamt Bauplänen, die jeder nachbauen darf. Trotzdem oder gerade deswegen ein gutes Geschäft mit über hundert Mitarbeitern.

    Fazit: Wer in einer Branche arbeitet, die vom Internet umgewälzt wird, und das sind mittlerweile fast alle, ist gut beraten, mit Hilfe dieses Buchs das Geschäftsmodell in Frage zu stellen und zu aktualisieren.
    Report
  • D. Plant
    4.0 out of 5 stars Paradigm shift
    Reviewed in Australia on January 13, 2016
    This book was recommended to me by a mentor, specifically to consider sharing thought leadership material via social media. I found it really interesting and full of great examples
  • C
    5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know the future of marketing...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2010
    The marketing bullies wont like this book, because it tells them that they have to give things away for free. But, they're missing the point: there is method to the madness. A great, inspirational, easy read. Only catch: he doesn't quite practice what he preaches. The again, I've read his work online (for free) for years. So here is a way for me to repay his efforts. ;-)