Microsoft's MSN said Wednesday that Hotmail users who want to retrieve e-mail from outside accounts through the service will have to pay up starting July 16.
In an e-mail notice to Hotmail users, MSN announced that for $19.95 a year, MSN Extra Storage would allow them to continue to use POP Mail Retrieval. The POP service allows customers to access various e-mail accounts through one Hotmail account.
In addition, the paid service provides 10MB of Hotmail storage, allowing people to send and receive larger attachments, and ensures that unused accounts will not expire. Hotmail requires its free users to log on every 30 days to keep an account active.
"Those people who are already paying for MSN Extra Storage will not have any increase in fees," said Parul Shah, product manager for MSN. "With 110 million Hotmail users, MSN needs to drive revenue to support the resources that it takes to provide free services."
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