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>> 3- A Paypal for web content. Add this piece of code to your video, blog post, or webpage and force anyone to pay 5 cents to access it. That's not a bad idea
by TallGuyShort 17y ago
>> 3- A Paypal for web content. Add this piece of code to your video, blog post, or webpage and force anyone to pay 5 cents to access it.
That's not a bad idea - I'd pay 5c out of a prepaid account to see something on YouTube - and the music execs could stop whining.
- stanleydrew 17y agoIt's also not a new idea. Tons of people have thought about and worked on micropayment systems (myself included). See http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.ht... for a pretty good argument as to why micropayments won't work. Basically they overvalue cheap resources (like web content) and undervalue expensive ones (like users' time). Think about it in some real-life contexts of your own. For instance, do you pay per text message, or do you have an unlimited texting plan?
- HeyLaughingBoy 17y agoActually if YouTube opened up access for pay-to-use services I can think of at least one business model. There's a guy here on HN who rents how-to DVDs. I would pay a fee to view the content on YouTube to avoid having to wait for the DVD to be mailed. Maybe $5 for 12 hours of access. This would be an interesting way to monetize YouTube: act as a video provider to small businesses who want to sell content, but don't want to deal with the hassle of managing their own servers and would like to take advantage of the name recognition.