Internet Pay Sites that were FREE

[Xenocrates]

Gentlepeople,

A sad trend has been gripping all of our favourite internet watering holes of late. Many of the very best sites on the net where people once could browse their content in relative freedom, now have to own a credit card just to visit. They charge only US 10 - 50 dollars a year (some of them more).... but the trend is hitting each and every single one of our favourite spots.

What is up with that? Why do these companies which are owned and operated by multi-billion dollar media giants, multimedia conglomerates and Publishing behemoths, suddenly feel they need to start charging their faithful visitors responsible for making the site a commercial success, cash for merely taking a whiff at their site? Below is a list of some of the more favourite free sites that have become credit card hogs:

1) Billboard.com
2) Gamespot.com (I'm still recovering from this loss... :'( )
3) IGN.net
4) Gamewallpapers.com (imagine my $hock - )
5) SecondNature.com
6) Webshots.com
7) Several other Ziff/Davis Publishing websites
8 ) Astalavista.net (of all the sites out there..... geez ??? )
9) AudioGalaxy.com
10) & most recently, StarWars.com

It's a shame that starwars.com has added itself to that list. There are also sites that were once pay sites that have now reverted to become free sites. I only know of a few, but three examples are:

1) Winamp.com
2) ArtOfGregMartin.com
3) WinZip.com

I wouldn't be surprised if the following sites also become pay sites:

1) TomsHardware.com
2) Cnet.com
3) SlashDot.com
4) CNN.com
5) Download.com

Once a site generates enough traffic to span multiple servers, they usually show up one day asking for your credit card number, to "keep the site running". I'm not sure whether to believe that nonsense, since many of these sites are being run by media giants such as Microsoft, AOL/Time/Warner and Ziff Davis Publishing. My opinion is that they're just trying to cash in from yet another source of sure income from the internet.

Currently Star Wars fans are pretty fumed about the changes to the site. The managers claim that "true fans will be more than willing to pay the ridiculously small amount of cash for so much more." They claim they want to segregate the site so that "casual fans will not be bogged down with the stuff only hardcore fans will want to see". So what do they do? They add this new stuff as premium content to the site, and charge for it.

Suddenly, much of the content on Starwars.com is marked with the Hyperspace icon - signifying that it's a premium content link. Suuure, charge the fans for something they've requested for years and obviously didn't expect to spend an extra dime for. One would think that Star Wars fans have spent millions of dollars building George Lucas' empire over the last 26 years. Now they have to spend even more money to see it online - even after buying the DVD. That's so pathetic.

I won't even speak about Gamespot.com. I've noticed a lot of their premium content is becoming free. Apparently they've noticed a drop in hits to the site. Some sites I can genuinely vouch for, like SecondNature.com. But the others are just ridiculous. The very content that some of the sites charge you for is questionable unto itself. It begs to wonder the motivation of these people.

I think this trend is slowly getting out of hand and is becoming more of a modest form of greed more than a genuine venture for perpetuating the site's existence.

[GodKid]

oh Xeno u forgot goog... oops.. no they're still free


but 4 real tho.. ASTALAVISTA!!!! if u see me put nuttin name suppm dat can crack on that site...

**** fact: when I used to visit I used an old decrepit box outfitted with Black ICE defender - i counted up to 20 hack attemps in 15 mins at one stage ******

[Xenocrates]

[quote author=GodKid link=board=1;threadid=972;start=0#msg8797 date=1055817050]
fact: when I used to visit I used an old decrepit box outfitted with Black ICE defender - i counted up to 20 hack attemps in 15 mins at one stage
[/quote]

-

[sandor]

way of the internet world ... dem people got bills (and salaries, in the case of those giant corporations where 'business is business&#039 to pay and banners alone not cutting it any more. it's happening right here in our on jamaican scenario too (although i think jamaicans are some of the most resistant people to paying money that you'll find anywhere in the world .. ask mi for examples if yuh want to tek mi up on this) ...

anyhow .. back to the jamaican scenario .. iriefm started charging for its audio awhile back .. seems to be working fine for them. last year (conveniently, right before the general elections), rjr started charging for its audio as well. don't be surprised if rjr/tvj also starts charging for things like the video of entertainment report, fame-fm audio etc.

even techjamaica.com, god forbid ;D , suppose this thing got so heavy with traffic and bandwidth charges start coming out of chris' ears with one and two banners only covering 10% of the overall maintenance cost of the site ... there might/would come a time when the whole hobby / love-of-doing-it factor would disappear into the background and chris would be searching hard for a serious means of keeping it up other than straight out of his pocket.

i like the concept of webmasterworld.com ... it's all free interaction and blah ... but they put a 'donate' request/option which appeals to the conscience of those who utilize it daily. so it's a give if you have it, 'help keep us free' ting.

[Nastrodamus]

I wonder if sooner or later Techjamaica going to start charging ;D

hhmmmm.....


But come to think of it, I mentioned in a different post of getting Techjamaica getting T-shirts, Cups, Pens etc..., would it be wrong to sell those products? No.

In that light I ask, what exactly is download.com actually charging for.

[Ropy]

In that light I ask, what exactly is download.com actually charging for.

I would ask the same too, since what most peeps go there only to use their indexing service.

[matronyx]

I remember when I got most of my mp3s from mp3.com and audiogalaxy, or some underground site that popped up a hundred naked girls for every file you downloaded. Gone are those days, along with napster, dialpad. Well I still get some techno from mp3.com ;D

I remember when winamp became free again. I used to use it even before that so I was overjoyed when it was back on the poorman's list.
I guess everybody want's something free.... just this morning I ran down a guy half way around our neighborhood because he was on my roof stealing mangoes.... I caught him and he was pleading that it was ONLY ONE mango. I don't think I will be seeing him until next year.

Back to the topic.... the good thing is that you can still get stuff from these sites...well most of em. Just that some of it is locked away and to access it you have to pay a small fee.

I mean, half of yahoo's offerings you have to pay for to get, and the same apply to 99% of the sites on the net. NOTHING IS REALLY FREE.... MUR-HA-HA-HAR...

[Xenocrates]

The best things in life are for free.

- like salvation ;D

[matronyx]

[quote author=Xenocrates link=board=1;threadid=972;start=0#msg8848 date=1055865224]
The best things in life are for free.

- like salvation ;D
[/quote]

Yeah...I agree with you 100%.
One thing we can be sure of, God didn't build any of the sites on the internet.

"For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord" :- Romans 6: 23.

Point to note though, this gift is only given to deserving ones.