Our system has two parts: 1) A transparent web counter, and 2) access pass gatekeeping code to help webmasters restrict access to some of their content.
Once you have an access pass, you get access to all restricted content, for a flat monthly rate.
difference from normal transactions
Our system differs from what you might expect when you think of buying something. Usually the buyer and the seller know the price of the item they're purchasing at the time of the purchase. You buy a book for $10 and pay the shopkeeper $10 before he gives you the book. The problem with current micropayment solutions is that they try to mimic this model. We break free, and as a result can provide producers with more revenue, and consumers with a fixed cost for access to a buffet of bits.
we micropay for you
You decide what you want to spend per month on "content". We pay content providers based on the amount of time you spend accessing their content.
Instead of making multiple "i want that, for this price" decisions explicitly, you get unfettered access to websites. Using our transparent web counter, your browsing decisions implicitly translate into micropayments for content producers at the end of the month (aka, all the transactions in-a-moon's cycle). At the end of the month, you get a statement detailing where you "spent" your time (and money).
the magic of special content
"Micropayments made easy sounds good, but if I'm paying nothing for content now, why am I suddenly going to start paying something?"
It is our view that most content should be totally free—free access, free in cost. But there is some class of content that is just more valuable than most. We call this the "special content". Special content might be a news story that was released in the last hour, it might be a detailed report, it might be an online game. We provide the infrastructure to gatekeep on this special content, restricting access to full members. You should do this because you want to provide an economic incentive to produce quality content.
Once you have access to special content on one site, you have access to special content on ALL sites. Special content encourages consumers to pay something, but for that something, they get access to everything. Cool, huh?
» See the "how" section for more details on how in-a-moon's micropayments are implemented.
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