The New York Times ran an article this past weekend about how internet pornography is hurting regular DVD sales. I'm certainly not used to seeing porn talked about in the Technology section of the Times so that was interesting first and foremost. It brings up an interesting point about how the porn industry works and how the industry's own propensity for technological innovation can sometimes hurt the more traditional forms of porn sales. I guess everything goes that way - theaters give way to VHS give way to DVD give way to the internet... is it progress? Here's what the NYTimes has to say:

The online availability of free or low-cost photos and videos has begun to take a fierce toll on sales of X-rated DVDs... And unlike consumers looking for music and other media, viewers of pornography do not seem to mind giving up brand-name producers and performers for anonymous ones, or a well-lighted movie set for a ratty couch at an amateur videographer?s house.

This doesn't surprise me at all. If you've ever downloaded a song illegally or have ever watched a video on YouTube, you know why these sites flourish. 1) Music and movies are too expensive for what you get and 2) We've learned that it's possible to have what you want, when you want it, without ever having to get up from your computer. And really, isn't that what porn is all about? As much as I love my high budget films and talented actresses, sometimes all you need is five or 10 minutes of something short, sweet, and free.I've been exploring various free porn sites for awhile now - here's a little rundown in case you'd like to start watching free porn but you're just not sure where to start:PornoTube: This was the first free porn site I discovered and it's a favorite because it has more porn stars I'm familiar with on it along with some nice amateur things. You can find clips of Janine, Belladonna and a very young Jenna Jameson. They also have nice still shots uploaded. Much of the site is very short clips or promos, however so you have to hunt a bit to find good content.XXXUploads: If you can get over the girl shaking her ass that will always be on the sidebar, this site has some good clips although the quality isn't as good and they usually don't tell you how long the clip is. That, I find annoying because, when hunting for free porn, you have to wade through a lot of 30 second clips.Shufuni: This site was introduced to me by Fleshbot and it's quickly become my favorite. The times of the clips are listed clearly and they're mostly over 2 minutes which is fantastic. They have easily usable categories including 'most watched' which is always fun to browse through. They also have some porn stars if you're craving them. This would be the first place I would check out.