Arguably if you are publishing content on the net you are giving it away.
There are mechanisms to charge for it.
There are mechanisms to charge for it.
Only above a certain price point. Our financial system nor our consumer culture support micropayments yet. This effectively limits the web properties that can charge users to a small fraction, so unfortunately "just charge money" isn't the widely-available solution I wish it was yet.
Hell, it's more viable to charge users for your mobile client than the backing service. It's kind of the closest we have to micropayments in a way.
Why should I subsidize your failed model ?
Who should pay for the assembly of the stuff ?
Would you put it together for free just to decide ?
Who pays for the used resources ?