Say Goodbye to Free Email

Both Hotmail and Yahoo have announced this week that people who want to continue to use some of their services will have to pay.

Yahoo announced on Thursday that it will begin charging for POP3 mail forwarding services. Yahoo originally started charging for some services back in February of 1999, and has continued over the past year to charge for services that are expensive to run. Beginning April 24, the mail forwarding service will cost users $29.99 per year, but those who subscribe before then will pay $19.99 for the first year.

Users who pay the fee will be able to use their Yahoo account as a POP3 mailbox, will be able to send attachments of up to 5 megabytes (instead of the current 1.5MB limit), and will not have the Yahoo text advertisement attached to the foot of every message. There will also be extra storage fees of $24.95 per year for 50MB, and $34.95 per year for 100MB, although users can pay monthly at $2.95 or $4.95, respectively.

Microsoft's Hotmail has taken a slightly different approach. Users who approach the 2MB limit, or don't regularly use the account, may find their inboxes cleared and their account bounces messages. Users are being pushed to upgrade to ensure their mail won't be wiped for inactivity or due to larger file sizes, while they are also being marketed the benefits of the Passport service and other internet services, such as MSN.

Last fall, Hotmail started closing accounts if inactive for 30 days, down from its 45 day policy. Over the summer, Hotmail offered storage space over the free 2MB at a price of $12.95, but raised it to $19.95 by December. Hotmail claims that first trash, then junk mail, then sent folders are cleaned before inboxes, although some users have reported the opposite has occurred. Some users argue that Hotmail has caused people to reach their file size limits by selling their information to spammers.

Recent news pieces:

• Yahoo tacks fees onto e-mail, storage at News.com
• Microsoft sweeps out Hotmail accounts at News.com
• Yahoo! to charge POP3 e-mail users at CNN
• The Price of Free E-Mail Rises from January at PCWorld
• Get the poop from Yahoo

End of the Free Content Ride?

With the boon of the web a few years ago, sites competed with one another by acting like portals, trying to see who could post the most news and otherwise free content possible to keep people coming back. As the portal model has fallen away, and the 'net economy has tightened up, it seems some formerly free sources of information are starting to expect something in return.

Jupiter Media Metrix claims that 42% of online adults are willing to pay for content, down from 45% in August of 2000. However, there are some murmurings that the industry might be moving away from free content regardless.

CNN's decision to phase out free video clips on its new, sports, and financial sites is just one example, following ABC News' example. RealNetworks is selling a SuperPass with a monthly price tag that allows access to multimedia from ABC News, Fox Sports, NASCAR, and even pro baseball and basketball, and they've already garnered some 500,000 subscribers. Salon magazine made that move last year, moving much of its content to a premium service.

Jupiter's report suggests that paid online content will grow to a $5.8 billion industry by 2006, up from $1.4 billion in 2002. They attribute the expected growth to widespread access to broadband, as well as people just buying into the model of paying for much of their content online.

Of course, free doesn't always mean money. More and more sites are requiring registration to access content, making users decide if their personal information is a fair trade. This customer information is a form of currency you can see in places like download.com, where they now require registration to download software.

Recent news pieces:

• Net users less willing to pay for content at News.com
• CNN's video fees add to the Net's growing price tag at USA Today
• Pay for Content? Ha, Say Users at Wired News
• Charges Of the Site Brigade at the Washington Post

Is Netscape the Browser for the Next AOL?

There have been many rumors on developer forums over the last week or so that AOL is testing Netscape in the AOL software. They've all been just rumors until recently, when some news sites have posted quotes from real, live AOL representatives.

AOL spokesman Jim Whitney confirmed on Thursday that a beta version of CompuServe has shipped with Netscape as the browser, and that they've been testing it since the fall. He also stated that they'll be testing Netscape with the AOL service as well, which has a worldwide customer base of 34 million users. AOL 8.0, due to ship in the fall, is likely the earliest version of the AOL service that could integrate Netscape.

With AOL's purchase of Netscape in 1999, and with AOL letting its agreement with Microsoft to use Internet Explorer as the browser of choice expire in January of 2001, some feel it's just been a matter of time before AOL would start to roll Netscape out as the default browser for the AOL service. Microsoft isn't so convinced AOL will move its user-base away from Internet Explorer given that AOL has been threatening it for years but hasn't yet moved. This, of course, ignores the January lawsuit AOL filed against Microsoft. Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said, "AOL has had the ability to change browsers since they purchased Netscape back in 1998, so it's not surprising that they might make that decision. But Internet Explorer is by far the best technology because it provides users the best experience on the Internet. But the decision remains AOL's."

Jupiter Media Metrix analyst David Card walks away with the best quote to date, when commenting on whether or not AOL would really make the shift to Netscape from Internet Explorer: "Serious software companies don't ship open source. They may start with it but they build products on it. You just have to be serious about the business and I don't think they are serious (about Netscape)."

Some news bits:

• AOL testing new, improved Netscape
• AOL 7.0 tests Netscape browser
• AOL with Gecko Beta Released over at MozillaZine, where they ask for people to beta test the software.
• AOL Beta Testing Gecko-Based Browser, many discussions follow.

Track new links in the comments below, I think we'd all like to see the progression of this story.