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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 7651149" data-attributes="member: 22424">The other model that I can see catching on is the micro-transaction-based pay-per-use model, where the provider gives you access to their library of materials to use as required, and you pay a small fee each time you actually do so.The advantage of this over subscription (for the customer) is obvious - they have the same level of access, but are only paying for what they actually use. (They may well not end up paying less overal though - under this model you'd pay every time you accessed your PHB too.) The downsides are that it takes more effort to set up and administer, and to process the payments, and that there's the possibility of service degradation at peak times. (Though all of these issues should reduce with time.)I can't see the pay-per-use model working with RPGs, because it does depend on the high-use items being behind the wall, and I suspect the market would respond to that by moving to some other game. But for entertainment products, I can certainly see this happening. We're in the last generation or two of physical media, and will be moving to digital delivery soon enough (and, unfortunately, I've just discovered that DVDs are nowhere near as durable as I thought...). I won;t be at all surprised when some company (quite possibly Disney) decide to stop selling their movies entirely, and instead provide access via an online portal allowing you to watch anything they own... for a very small fee.</blockquote>

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