“Free: The Future of a Radical Price” by Chris Anderson available online for free
12 Jul 2009 
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Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, recently released his latest book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” online for free in several different formats.
In the book Anderson makes the case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. According to book review websites:
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. 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.
Where to find the book online:
“Free” was released in a text version on scribd.com and Google Books, as well as in an unabridged audiobook format (MP3 files) on wired.com.
The text versions are only available for online reading, not downloading or printing, and they are region-restricted to the USA. However, Scribd and Google Books seem to have overlooked the possibility of browsing to their websites through proxy sites like www.hidemyass.com, www.unblocked.org, www.anon.me or www.sitesurf.net.
Update 2009/07/13: There is an M4B format (iPod / iPhone audiobook) version of the audiobook available here. Audiobooks in the M4B format provide a better listening experience than MP3 files in that they will remember where you last stopped listening, allow you to skip amongst chapters, and allow you to change the reading speed.
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The sociologist Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers) wrote an insightful rebuttal to some of Anderson’s ideas on newyorker.com.
If you haven’t read any of Gladwell’s books I highly recommend them!