The New York Times
As of September 19 much of the New York Times will no longer be available free online, as it is now:
"On Monday, Sept. 19, NYTimes.com will launch a new subscription service, TimesSelect, an important step in the development of The New York Times. Subscribers to TimesSelect will have exclusive online access to many of our most influential columnists in Op-Ed, Business, New York/Region and Sports. In addition to reading the columns, TimesSelect subscribers can also engage with our columnists through video interviews and Web-only postings."
For $49.95 a year subscribers gain access to everything listed above, in addition to 100 articles a year from the archive of every single Times article ever written, which will eventually go back to 1851. That's not a bad deal, but at least for the time being I will not be paying $50 a year for it. For the Times it's a trade-off: there will be less traffic on the site, and fewer advertising dollars; but there will be new subscribers shelling out their $50 plus some extra when they've exceeded their 100 article allotment.
Thoughts on whether or not this is a good idea from their perspective?
posted by CharlesPeirce @ 4:54 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Bummer!
Well, the free access was too good to last.
The $50 is perfectly reasonable, but we're all used to a lot of free content on the web. We'll have to see if this works for the Times.
I think I'll be reading the Washington Post on line, and buying the print edition of the Sunday Times.
I agree. I only use the Times online because it is more convenient than the print edition. And, as someone who has access to the archives anyway through an institutional subscription, that bonus feature is not a very powerful draw for me.
I think the only readers who will pony up $50 are those who are devoted to the Times and prefer online access to print, which probably isn't that many.
So, maybe not so good for them, but definitely not so good for us.
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