Back when I worked at my college newspaper, we'd get free CDs all the time. Ostensibly, record companies wanted us to review them and could recall the discs at any time. They didn't. And, instead of letting all the music go into the trash, I took them when we cleaned our office (about once a semester). Some I kept; some were sold at music stores.

When I was thinking about uses for this blog, one that came up was presenting it as a publication of sorts. I could get music, books, DVDs, video games — pretty much any type of media — if I wrote a review in exchange. The problem is, after the initial glee of "free stuff!", that becomes work. And I'd rather not feel obligated to dedicate the time and effort to do so. There are only so many hours in the day.

There is, however, a way around this for some things: product samples. Unlike media firms, the manufacturers of food and household goods do not expect anything in return except the potential for a new customer and some word-of-mouth buzz. Of course, it's a little different — their goods are consumable (and often in very small "sample sizes" to boot — but one blogger is exploiting this to the fullest and chronicling his adventures in product promotion.

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