Pandora, Hulu: What happened to free?
Posted on Mon Oct 26 2009
I'm a big fan of free things. Free books and CDs on the sidewalk, free samples of cheese at the supermarket, free giveaways in Union Square. And up until a few weeks ago, free streaming radio via Pandora.com and free TV on Hulu.com. So, imagine the surprise when I found out last week that after 40 hours of free play per month, Pandora now charges you 99 cents to finish the month, or $36 to "upgrade" to all-day play all year. Gimme a break. (I'm off to free-for-now iTunes radio.) And now there are reports that Hulu might charge for some of its content by next year. For those of us who've found Time Warner Cable to be too expensive, Hulu has been a savior. I can keep up with my favorite shows (Fringe and FlashForward) without paying a cent. The questions poses itself: What happened to free?
—Posted by Will Levith
