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  • FREE: The Future of a Radical Price

  • Written by: Chris Anderson
  • Narrated by: Chris Anderson
  • Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (94 ratings)
FREE: The Future of a Radical Price cover art

FREE: The Future of a Radical Price

Written by: Chris Anderson
Narrated by: Chris Anderson

Publisher's Summary

The New York Times best-selling author heralds the future of business in Free. In his revolutionary best seller, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates niche markets, allowing products and consumers to connect in a way that has never been possible before. Now, in Free, he makes the compelling case that, in many instances, businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them.

Far more than a promotional gimmick, Free is a business strategy that may well be essential to a company's survival. The costs associated with the growing online economy are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long.

Just think that in 1961 a single transistor cost $10; now Intel's latest chip has two billion transistors and sells for $300 (or 0.000015 cents per transistor - effectively too cheap to price). The traditional economics of scarcity just don't apply to bandwidth, processing power, and hard-drive storage. Yet this is just one engine behind the new Free, a reality that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy.

Anderson also points to the growth of the reputation economy; explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you're trying to sell.

In Free, Chris Anderson explores this radical idea for the new global economy and demonstrates how this revolutionary price can be harnessed for the benefit of consumers and businesses alike.

©2009 Chris Anderson (P)2009 Hyperion

What the critics say

"As in Anderson's previous book, the thought-provoking material is matched by a delivery that is nothing short of scintillating." ( Publishers Weekly)

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Great... more more or less.

It was really good but I feel like a second edition is necessary. I probably would have given it 5 stars if I didn't feel like all of the examples were more than a decade old.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Better off as ebook or physical book

Good overview of the free market economy. Would have been better to read than listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Would recommend

Overall the book was imteresting and worth my time to listen to it. Would recommend.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A free book on how free economy work

I was well written and easy to follow while doing other things. It was interesting and not my typical book pick.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Outdated examples yet worth listening

If you’re listening to this book now please note that the majority of the information in terms of examples such as ‘MySpace’ is now outdated. Nonetheless the discussion is still relevant. If are interested in creating a free model for your business, give this a listen.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

This helped me fall asleep...

Couldn't finish.

There should be a disclaimer not to operate heavy equipment and drive while listening to this.
There are a lot of great case studies but it was so hard to listen to without dozing off.

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did not enjoy this book

i did not enjoy this book; thought I might, but I didn't... do not reccomend

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Phenomenal!

I finished this over the course of 2 days. i wanted to hear it all so I could get to work implementing the principles. The best and most useful free book I've ever not paid for!

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Not too shabby

Listening to this book for free made me buy his other books. You can’t afford not to get this book.

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Food for thought

This was a great fast pace in-depth summary of the economics of "free" products. Very well explained history and reasoning behind it all. Very nice reader and good quality sound.

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