Small task - Information as a Commodity

My direct costs for information are reasonably minimal. I read books from the library at no cost and only really buy books for presents (there is no room left on my bookshelves). We subscribe to the local newspaper and the NZ Listener and but any other magazines I read are from the library. We also pay for a basic Sky subscription and occasionally rent DVDs.
Indirect costs include the cost of my laptop (less than 1 year old) and the cost of the electricity to run it, the cost of the TV, Freeview box, external hard drive, wireless router, phone line, Internet . . . I also pay half the cost of enrolment in Polytechnic papers which gives me access to course material, library books and online databases. According to my rough calculations, this all costs me about $3,500/year. But where do you stop? What about movies, plays, concerts, photos? Do these count as information. What about the portion of my rates that goes towards the cost of the library? What about the cost of the petrol to access some of these information sources?
The cost to access information could increase in the future according to this article in the Los Angeles Times. Kodak is starting to charge for its photo-storage service and there is a possibility that previously free web services may also start to charge having discovered that ad revenue is not enough to keep businesses running. Imagine if you had to pay for on-line banking, your web mail account, your Delicious bookmarks or your Google searches.