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> While we're talking about subscription services, can I just ask - is there anyone out there, like me, who just can't be bothered to pay for anything at all on-line? I know that sounds really terribly apathetic and cheapskatish, but the fact of the matter is that I've got used to the Internet being, by and large, free.
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> Si-"Or this post to be accepted, come to think of it"-gi

The only thing I pay for online is my ISP. Beyond that, I'm to cheap to pay. It's not that I can't afford it. Like you, I have gotten used to it being free. But I fear it will go the same way TV went. At first it was free. Then when we all got hooked, they gave us low-cost cable. Now my cable costs just pennies under $50 a month with no premium channels. Two-thirds of the channels are junk that I don't watch. Whenever they want to add a few bucks to the bill they just add a few more junk channels to the package and up the rates.

I would almost pay them, if they would remove all of the shopping channels and fund-raising preachers from my TV. I even have a channel of nothing but soap operas and another one of blurry black and white game shows.

Too make matters worse, we are only at home about half of the month.

I can remember when the telephone was about $3 a month if you made only local calls, and the cell phone hadn't been invented yet. TV was 5 channels of free stuff and there was no internet. My parents never got a bill for a cell phone, internet provider, or a cable service, but they survived.
Howard