Some thoughts on micropayments and subscriptions from Fast Company's article Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death.

"If you get inside the consumer's mind," Guadagno says, "I think there are three factors at work. First, there's an intense belief that the Web is a free medium. Even a 25-cent charge pushes against an unconscious belief that it should all be free. Second, customers often didn't think that the content was worth as much as the providers did. And finally, people don't want to deal with the hassles of microtransactions every time they want something. They would rather take out one subscription and be done with it."