On the Cost of IEEE and ISO Standards Documents?

jeffmock asks: "It seems that I bump against this problem a couple of times a year. Last year I was working on an MP3 project and I needed to read the spec for MPEG-I layer-3 audio. The document is ISO 13818-3 and it costs $150 to get a third generation, barely readable photocopy. It's not a freely available document. This week I want to read the 802.11 spec. You can purchase a hard copy from the IEEE for $288 or they will let you download a PDF file for $432. Is this right? I understand the need to fund standards efforts and limit the circulation of drafts while they're a work in progress. Does it make sense to put up this kind of financial barrier for established industry standards?"