AOL Gives up on Dial Up. ESPN Charges ISPs. iTunes Add-ons.

by David Spark on August 3, 2006

It’s official. AOL has finally given up…on dial-up.

Yes, don’t expect to receive anymore “1000 Hours Free!” CDs. AOL has decided to make its proprietary services and content free for all users with broadband access.

It’s been a long time coming. Advertising revenue for AOL shot up 40% last quarter, while at the same time the company lost close to 1 million dial up subscribers.

If you’re an AOL dial up user, don’t worry, they will still continue to support your overpriced Internet access.

And who’s going to pay for Internet video? Well, ISPs, says ESPN. ESPN has decided to charge Internet service providers for the right to carry its broadband Web service ESPN 360. This is the complete opposite of the net neutrality debate which says users should pay for high bandwidth content like video. ESPN’s theory is if ISPs don’t carry their content, users will shop for other ISPs that do carry their content.

And CNET has a list of some very cool iTunes add-ons.

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