I think people need to get real about PSN and XBox Live. They cost money to develop and maintain. In each case it is a service which should not be free if you want it to be a quality service. I have never had any qualms about paying for XBox Live because of the host of benefits that it brought to the table. PSN is now a quality service too but if you want it to continue to compete with XBox Live, Sony needs the money to invest in it, and it can no longer afford to divert the funds from other sources of revenue.
Sony needs to encourage people to pay for PSN so you can expect more of this.