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Inside the Free iPod Offer
jonathanhowell writes "David Lazarus, The SF Chronicle's tech guy, has an article in today's paper with an interesting investigation into the work you have to do to get a "free" (as in beer) iPod. I'm trying not to call it a scam, because it appears completely legal, if ethically challenged." From the article: "What it doesn't say is that the offer terms will expose you to reams of spam and marketing solicitations, that the user survey is actually a lengthy marketing ploy, and that the sponsor offers needed to qualify for that free music player will almost certainly cost you money."
Duh, anybody thinking anything is "free" today doesn't value their time, other people's time, or their sanity.
Or is a poor college student with three friends to sell out for an iPod Shuffle? I have less than $30 in my bank account, but thanks to these offers, I can be a hipster too! Thanks Gratis!
This is an important distinction, and one far too few people pay attention to. The gratis sites have a ton of news stories proclaiming their legitimacy. I've personally already completed my offers for an ipod shuffle, and am waiting for it to ship. The 20 gig ipod and mac mini will soon follow, no doubt. I have many friends who are interested in trying out the blockbuster online service anyway, so I've been getting them to use my referral links to sign up for it.
/. who proudly proclaims that he's foe'ing all people who link free offers in their sigs. How meaningless must your life be, to derive such personal satisfaction from ignoring some words on the internet.
My point is... not all pyramid schemes are alike. Sure the gratis sites still are a bit cheezy, but they seem to have a decent respect for the customer, and have a working business plan that relies not on fucking you over, but on the majority of signups being too lazy to complete their referrals.
People blast me left and right for being a spamming asshole who is supporting some dark, evil empire, but I say screw em, a little leg work for a poor graduate student to get some technological goodies is well worth it.
The really sad person in all of this is the guy on