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)

unique application of ideas

great review of innovative use of unique revenue models involving free. I personally will be implementing the freemium method at my vfw post to increase customer engagement.

Excellent Marketing Ideas and Stories

Good book about marketing products for FREE. I like the examples Chris Anderson put forth in this book. Good narration too. One of the better business books I've read in the past couple of years.

Valuable Information

Loved all the content! By providing it to me for free, I'm now a lifetime fan. Great book.

Nobel, entertaining. academic

This free book took me by surprise. I was searching for the book Zero but discovered this gem. The author puts a new twist on the profit motive and supplied me with tons of ideas for my newly established small business. He takes the reader from physical ideas (atoms) to Internet technologies (bits), weighing their value and economic potential.

Super

C'est tres interessant comme livre c'est une bonne histoire et c'est inspirant. J'ai adoré l'écouter

Great Book

this book is totally worth more than free. the author is very intelligent and really explains how the free economy works

'FREE' is worth your time

Visionary Chris Anderson consistently delivers the goods, this time for 'FREE'. His ideas are interesting and organized, and I dig the "sound bar" feature he has in the audiobook.

I consider this book a timeless classic. Don't miss it.

Fascinating

I probably never would have read this book in print form but listening to the author read it is completely different. It's fascinating.

Exciting Narrative

This book clarifies 21st century marketing in a clear, concise narrative. It should be required reading for every entrepreneur who wants to be rich.
I have implemented some of the nuggets that I discovered. I can go on and on. The best way I can express my impression of FREE...is to say, "If there were a Nobel Prize for Business Economics, it should go to Chris Anderson for FREE: The Future of a Radical Price."

Probably interesting - didn't finish

I simply couldn't stay with the book. I only got an hour into it. The content sounded interesting but the narrator reads too fast for my liking. Rushes through the material and there is no time to absorb it. Hardly a breath between words or sentences.