FREE: The Future of a Radical Price

By: Chris Anderson

Narrated by: Chris Anderson

Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling author heralds the future of business in Free. In his revolutionary best seller, 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.

©2009 Chris Anderson (P)2009 Hyperion

Critic reviews

"As in Anderson's previous book, the thought-provoking material is matched by a delivery that is nothing short of scintillating." ( Publishers Weekly)

Free is good in a different way

This is especially good for old timers like me. It even explained to me (without meaning to )) why I didn't like the phone especially for long chats...lol. Good for new enterprises who want to get in on the free thing to make money. Since I am over 21 or so, this is not "duuh" to me. Thanks for this. I didn't think I'd like it, but I was riveted.

Great Book! but one flaw

The one flaw would have to be it's a outaded book with companies no longer around or things have changed.

Provokes thinking in your business

made me think about my business with a new perspective.

appreciated the insights and thought provoking this book provided.

Awesome

This book is awesome. I highly recommend taking note when listening to this book. This book is great for anyone running a business.

Ended Up Paying

Even though I got "FREE" by Chris Anderson, I ended up giving him a donation for being an author. This is the best economic book in a long time because Chris Anderson explains the free model so well. He gives relevant examples from dot coms. Such as Google services, social media and open source software.

The most interesting topic is digital piracy. As you get older and as time becomes an issue, you end up purchasing the digital good from a reputable site instead of down loading from somewhere else for free.

Excellent book on the subject and I ended up paying for it because it was well written and explain. I have read my fair of business titles and bought many of them, but Anderson just explain in layman's terms where you understand the meaning of FREE.

Get the book!

What did you love best about FREE?

Cris had excellent argument about the free products and services. Giving away products and services will bring back loyal customers. The book has many examples which support the author's argument. I enjoyed every minute while listening to the book.

I like his way of introducing grammar

this is very useful book , I am sure I am going to listen to it whenever I need to review

An interesting listen

I really did enjoy this book! I like economics and learning more about the different aspects of it. I did feel as though the book got a little repetitive towards the end, and kind of lost my attention. Otherwise, job all done to the narrator/author.

Great book regarding bits for free

the narrator was very good and the book was well written. it really makes a person think on how Internet allowed businesses to start up virtually free.

Pretty interesting

Pretty interesting. Probably could be slimmed down a bit. But good content. As someone who grew up with the Internet, it was interesting to learn about pre-Internet free and free outside America.