There's a fundamental difference between goods and services composed of bits, and those composed of other forms of energy and matter. The marginal cost of many

There's a fundamental difference between goods and services composed of bits, and those composed of other forms of energy and matter. The marginal cost of many physical goods will never be zero. At least not until we have limitless amounts of energy to recompose molecules as we wish. I think that's a long way off. What Rifkin isn't really analyzing is the role of free. Why do people provide free goods and services? It's usually for the same reason grocery stores and heroine dealers do: to let you test the merchandise, so they can make money if you want more. "Free" is simply a way to lower the friction points for consumers, and draw public attention.