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Well, the idea is that listeners are the customer. You may be right that it may initially get more traction as a free newsletter. But then it would basically be another mp3 blog, and that wasn't the idea.

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If as you say, a free version doesn't have a competitive advantage or differentiator over mp3 blogs, why is the service better if you charge for it?

Can you line up interesting partners, make it a community somehow, crowdsource reviews from the newsletter, etc? What is the #1 reason to subscribe to your service?

Ideally, the #1 reason to sign up for the service is the curation and convenience of having it emailed to you (I guess that's 2 reasons). I have thought about publishing the newsletters a few weeks after they first appear - that may be a way to have my cake and eat it too, but it also may discourage subscriptions if people can just wait a while and view it online.

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