Micropayments For Digital Products?

Back when the Internet was young there were all sorts of schemes to monetize content and sell digital goods. One of the most talked about was the concept of micro-payments, where users would be charged incrementally based on how much content they consumed.

The idea never really caught on. And ever since, micro-payments have remained on the back burner for a host of reasons, including lame technology, lack of interest from big media and the difficulty convincing consumers to pay for info in a “nickel and dime” fashion.

But content has a long history of being paid for by end-users (magazines, books, etc.). And in today’s challenging ad environment, coupled with the realization that almost all media is (or will soon be) digital and interactive, publishers are again looking at micro-payments as a way to shore up diminishing bottom lines.

SILICON ALLEY INSIDER had an interesting piece yesterday on a number of media veterans who’ve come around to the conclusion that some type micro-payment solution has to be included in the mix—as well as a number of other observers who think it will never happen.

• Micropayments, Reimagined (fimoculous.com)
• Blogonomics: The End of Micropublishing? (portfolio.com)
• Scrape, Scrape, Scrape, Let’s All Scrape Our Way to Profit! (centernetworks.com)
• Paying for News (portfolio.com)
• Please pay us for our news – please? (mathewingram.com)
• Walter Isaacson Is Dead Wrong About The Future Of Newspapers (stoweboyd.com)
• How Micropayments Can Work (newspaperdeathwatch.com)
• Should the New York Times Charge For its Website? [Newspapers] (gawker.com)