Is anyone else skeptical about this? As of right now, Xbox Live is an excellent service, and it doesn't really bother me paying fifty bucks a year for it. However, I wonder if the service would suffer, in terms of quality, at all, if it was funded by advertising and external sources. If Microsoft could maintain the same level of service, and the advertising wouldn't be too intrusive (at least no more so than it is now), then I'd be all for it. I'd also like to know, however, if Microsoft would offer a refund to those of us that have paid for an entire year of service when they start giving it to everyone for free.

If you want to know if this last part is possible for them, it most certainly is. Go to Google, and look up the LG LRM-519. Search for information about it's internal program guide provided by Microsoft and how they were charging something like $250 for a lifetime subscription to it. Well, as it turns out, Microsoft decided to give this service away for free to everyone with the machine, and on top of that, gave full refunds to anyone that had paid for the subscription before that.

I have one of these machines, and it's awesome. It's just like a Tivo machine with a built in DVD Burner. But it just goes to show you that Microsoft is definitely willing to sacrifice a bit to help secure their place in the industry.

Also, the service has not suffered since Microsoft stopped charging for it. This provides me with a gleam of hope that Xbox Live could actually survive as a free service.

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