The enormous psychological gap between "free" and "non-free" definitely exists, at least in my own mind.
There is yet another issue, which I have never seen brought up. Unlike physical goods, with information you know practically nothing about what you're buying until you've non-refundably consumed it, almost by definition. The only possible exceptions are very large aggregates such as books. And most available information, by volume, is simply worthless.
Let's say that a dime were deducted from my bank account every time I read a HN article, and given to the author. I would feel that most of the money is spent unwisely. Not necessarily because almost everything is garbage (Sturgeon's Law applies!) but because I have not had the chance to evaluate it before purchasing, since doing so is effectively impossible.
This makes the common comparison of proposed Internet micropayments to costs such as my electric bill rather specious, since every KWatt/Hour which comes out of my breaker panel is worth the same to me, and I know exactly what to expect from it.
I refuse to participate in any scheme which rewards the worthless 90% of a Sturgeon's Law universe equally to the valuable 10%.
Well, there are a few things where you pay first - books, as you say, but also movies, theater, fast food and so forth. Unsurprisingly, this involves high marketing and a tightly controlled supply chain to be profitable, or else a very qualified consumer (no way am I going to pay >$30 for the privilege of reading a paper in Nature or something that I might find interesting, but if I was a specialist in that field that would be different).
I don't worry about the free/non-free thing. I see lots of stuff on the web that I'd consider worth a nickel, a dime, a quarter or even a dollar. The issue for me is that I am not going to get my credit card out and go through the 2-3 minute process of submitting all my billing information for such a tiny amount. Affiliate and adwords-type stuff is faster and better from the consumer point of view, but of course that often results in content degradation: as pointed out on HN recently, why write expertly about an obscure topic when there's more money to be made writing crap about a popular topic.
What if Google hosted something like TipJoy, and the scheme was built as a very specifically formatted REST call with open source server-side software that authenticated and forwarded the transaction. If Mozilla built this into Firefox, then it would quickly become a part of what the users perceives as the Web Infrastructure, just like the (default) Google search box on the upper right hand corner, or the SSL lock icon.
Whenever micropayments come up - and specifically with the idea of making the payments from some kind of broker account so that the transaction cost isn't a hassle - it colours my thinking for the next couple of days.
It gets tied into my "vote up" reflex that I've gotten used to from reddit and HN. Normally I'll come across something I like, think "I should vote that up" if I found it from some place with votes. After I'm primed with the idea of micropayments I think "I'd micropay for that".
I don't know what I'd pay, but I get the feeling that the thought corresponds to the same payment amount. It would be nice to have a configureble browser widget that would make paying the default amount as bookmarking something or tagging it for delicious.
The troubling thing is that I'd spend a bit on stuff that I'd optionally get for free, but I don't know how much I'd pay for something like the new york times - the "you must register thing" really bugs me (even now, after I registered with a mailinator account to avoid the hassle). I guess I've just gotten used to trying before I buy (thanks torrent people...)
You're right on the money: your momentary attention to a HN post has a value, and that accumulates with authors you like - you're more likely to upvote someone who has already impressed you.
What if tipping is free for the consumer of a blog or video or tune, but the tips are redeemable for a discount with online retailers? Tips and/or comment depth presumably have some kind of analytic value and might be orthogonal or inversely proportional to the the kind of SEO-hackery designed to pull adwords bidding.
There is yet another issue, which I have never seen brought up. Unlike physical goods, with information you know practically nothing about what you're buying until you've non-refundably consumed it, almost by definition. The only possible exceptions are very large aggregates such as books. And most available information, by volume, is simply worthless.
Let's say that a dime were deducted from my bank account every time I read a HN article, and given to the author. I would feel that most of the money is spent unwisely. Not necessarily because almost everything is garbage (Sturgeon's Law applies!) but because I have not had the chance to evaluate it before purchasing, since doing so is effectively impossible.
This makes the common comparison of proposed Internet micropayments to costs such as my electric bill rather specious, since every KWatt/Hour which comes out of my breaker panel is worth the same to me, and I know exactly what to expect from it.
I refuse to participate in any scheme which rewards the worthless 90% of a Sturgeon's Law universe equally to the valuable 10%.