The limits of free ...

Yes, most web content is free, and always will be. Google's friction-free system for placing contextual ads next to content and handling the transaction as a self-serve auction has revolutionized the process. Chris Anderson at Wired makes the case well.

But sometimes free is too expensive. Honestly.

We wrote here not long ago about ways to be "better than free," basically sugestions from Kevin Kelly about how to make your free content stand out from other free content.

But this post from George Colony at Forrester takes a different tack: why there are limits to what that frictionless advertising can do, and why people will sometimes be willing to pay to avoid it.

Here's a taste:

What it means ... Anderson is half right. Many are willing to sacrifice time and attention to get their content free. But a growing market will pay to get just what they need, when they want it, with few or no ads.