Oh, it was in the past, before major firms focused energy on Internet-based delivery methods and began reconfiguring expectations.
Like millions and millions of other people I:
* Pay for media (music, books, movies, tv shows, newspapers) via iTunes for the iPhone and iPad
* Pay for media viewing via Netflix streaming
* Pay for eMusic
* Pay a subscription fee for Hybridized.org
* Pay for SomaFM.com
* And I might even pay for Hulu.com
And as Jordan noted, these are just the direct costs. Ancillary costs (for example, for connectivity) are also in the mix.
Of course, there are still plenty of people who expect Shag to freely develop websites and Doug to freely produce and distribute his newsletter and books.
These people are idiots who aren't keeping up with current events.
The big boys have entered the arena and have successfully established an answer to the battle cry, "fuck you, pay me!" Their answer is: 'fuck you all, pay us and then we'll pay the creators.'
I think a more pertinent question than, 'what's wrong with those freetards?' is: what is the impact of the pay models currently in-play and about to be rolled out?
.d.