Goodreads says that I'm "finished with Free", but I disagree. I love Free, and while listening to this audiobook (which was free), I was surprised by how much Free I'd taken advantage of in my life without even giving it a thought. Chris Anderson says that my generation inherently understands (and to a point, expects) Free, and I'm proof of that. Hotmail, Yahoo!, Google, oh my! The internet is like the Free capital of the universe. I've never given a single thought to how these companies could g...

Disclaimer: I won a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads. Free is a pretty comprehensive overview of the free business model. Anderson first outlines the history of free, the economic and psychological reasons behind free, the reason that free can exist in today's digital world, and the ways it differs from so-called "20th century free."Anderson's points are well made, complete, and interesting to read. However, I do believe that he ignores and/or understates the full implications o...

A business classic that everyone should read. Explains 20th century and 21st century economics from a big picture perspective. The basic thesis is that while in the physical world (atoms), products have cost and thus companies can afford to give away small amounts of free samples (5%), or give away cheaper loss-leader related products in order to maintain profits. In the digital world things are reversed as products have little to no marginal cost and companies can afford to give away 95% of the...

I read this book primarily because it was, well, free, and because Chris Anderson is a well known author due to The Long Tail (which I never read but heard a lot about). In the introduction he describes how as he researched the book he encountered two different reactions to it - the younger crowd (under-30 I think it was) thought that the ideas were basically self-evident while the older crowd thought that there was no such thing as free and that there is no way you could build a business model

This book was written during the initial years of the Social Media/Apps boom when people hadn't gotten used to the idea of being the product themselves (i.e. their data being sold to the highest bidders). While everyone gleefully lapped up the 'free' services offered by the Apps, Chris was one of the first popular writers to ominously predict what would happen when we ourselves became the product. Must read for all 21st Century Internet users.

Great Book !! I love the way that he explained things by using the concept of economics.

I thought this was a really illuminating audio-back as someone who works in the tech industry. Meaning I understood many of the basic principles that make the software industry different from regular ones (zero marginal cost for software products) but I hadn't really grasped many of the economic implications. It was cool learning about all the different marketing and monetizing strategies. It's something that I had never really thought about.

Its is one of the most relevant books in present time as it reflects current and future style of business.It is published in 2009 but still very significant in current times.It is a must read and its freely available in soft format on net

Loved this book. Some of the ideas may seem self-evident but taken as a whole, Anderson is pointing out some very relevant and often looked-over economics of the digital age. Highly recommend it for anyone interested in marketing.

This was a pretty good book detailing a business method to increase profits; as much of an oxymoron as it seems, to increase business profits, give some products away for free (but only small amounts or some loss making products). This was obviously an example, as this audiobook was free on Audible.That being said, this is a well known tactic so devoting an entire book to explaining it seemed pretty pointless.

In Free: The Future of a Radical Price Anderson insists that the way to profit online is to give products away. Of course, the intent of such a proclamation is to startle people unfamiliar with online dynamics -- which makes you wonder what tiny portion of his audience is actually startled. Even people from established industries such as newspapers and network television already know that their products only *appeared* to be free or nearly free to the consuming public. Their product certainly di...

At the beginning of Free, Chris Anderson presents a generalized dichotomy toward "Free." Some—mostly the older users—are suspicious of Free and insist they will have to pay somewhere down the line. Many younger users, on the other hand, think that Free, on the Internet at least, is a truism. Anderson says his goal is to convince us that neither camp has it completely right and that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.This is an attitude that we can apply to the Internet in general. As newspap...

The gist of it is that the price of almost everything will gradually be driven towards being free (in its various forms). Considering this book was released in 2009, in the eight years since, we can already see how much of it turned out to be true. An informative read overall.

We've heard that information wants to be free. We're all for it as long as we are on the receiving rather than the giving end. The value of Chris Anderson's work is in showing us exactly how "free" can work. It turns out it's not a new idea: think radio and television in the days of antennas. Most Google services are free (paid for by ads). On-line textbooks can be free by selling add-ons such as the right to print chapters, study guides, audio summaries of chapters, downloads to electronic book...

Obviously this is written by someone who barely passed Econ 101 or Media/Marketing History core coursework for his bach's degree. Its a shame that so few journalist today have received a decent classical education in order to understand what is research, what is analysis and what is valuable literature. I almost expect to find a "free" copy of this book in the waiting room when I go in for my very costly root canal. This book tries to convince you not to fear the free. If you just came off readi...

This was one of the most interesting books I have read in a while that makes one consider advantages in marketability. I appreciated the historical references and have enjoyed telling people about these stories, especially Jello. Definitely a must-read.

Breezy, accessible, and generous. I came away with a truckload of new ideas and some interesting new viewpoints about Internet economics.

Great book and even a better price... Free! Chris Anderson does a great job explaining multiple ways to make money by giving away products/services for free. He does an even better job explaining the difference between giving it away and charging $0.01. While reading this book, I came up with several ideas to give away products & services and hopefully increase market share and profits. Unfortunately, due to conventional thinking, pulling the trigger on these ideas may be tough. However, I would...

Free: The Future of a Radical Price is an enjoyable listen on Audible. It's a great value at the sticker price of $0.00. Chris Anderson does a great job of covering the history of free offerings to generate business. He also covers all the ways we take advantage of free services today without a second thought. It was a fascinating take on the economics of specific business models. For a business owner, there were a few great ideas interspersed throughout the text. There were also a number of exa...

A lot of good ideas and points made but the book is really showing its age. Hopefully Chris Anderson will release an updated edition.