What do you really get for free these days?

Are we all a bit spoiled? Never before have we lived in a world where we’ve been able to get so much for so little.

The reason for that, or at least 90% of it, is because of the internet.

Nowadays you’ll pick up some news online without having to pay, you’ll watch videos for free and listen to music while keeping your wallet closed.

Back in the real world the cost of some products has obviously gone up but even in the outdated concept of reality you’ll still probably get a better deal on most things.

Remember when you had to spend £1 million on a printer? Now you can pick one up for about 50p. (Some prices may be rough estimates.)

So when I regularly hear people complaining about the cost of a newspaper, which admittedly is one of those products which has gone up very slightly in price, I feel a bit miffed.

At Costa Coffee people don’t seem to mind paying a minimum of £2.60 for a large Americano and I’m yet to meet a punter in Wetherspoon’s who has had anything but positive things to say about paying sometimes as little as £1.79 for a pint of lukewarm guest ale.

Are either or both of these things better value for money than a local paper, which, by the way, carries far more in-depth coverage than you will see online?

I’d like to think not, although as always I’d welcome a contrary opinion (emcconnell@ thekmgroup.co.uk).

I’m aware it’s not just newspapers that get this treatment, music and film sales have plummeted because, ‘why pay if you can get it for free?’

I’m not professing to being a saint who has never laughed in the face of those slickly produced anti-pirate video adverts at the beginning of VHSs (now DVDs) but surely actually being a physical product still counts for something? Well, we’ll see when I finally get a patent for my digital coffee machine, which dispenses warm caffeinated beverages through a nozzle on the side of your laptop.