mod_wastrel
join:2008-03-28
 ·magicjack.com
| Virtually... whatever
I guess requiring a subscription for their "news" site is just too obvious. As far as ads go--paper, website, TV, radio (whatever), 99% of them get completely ignored (but if advertisers are stupid enough to continue paying for their creation and distribution...).
(Of course, without TV ads pro athletes would only make what they're worth to watch: next to nothing.) |
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baineschile
2600
Premium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI | Detroit News
The Detroit news and Free Press will stop Michigan delivery during the week (at a $7 monthly charge) for an online delivery ($15).
Way to advance, detroit. |
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DarkLogix
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX | So they're going to stop paper delivery to provide a service that most won't pay for when there are so many free news sites?
who's bright Idea whas that? |
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mod_wastrel
join:2008-03-28
·magicjack.com
| reply to baineschile
I delivered the paper when I was a kid--walking or on my bike, house to house, paper on the porch; not much pay, but better than an allowance. Now, everything is a motor route--someone (an "adult" usually) driving by throwing a paper out the window... lands wherever it lands. I declined home delivery many years ago when they refused to use the little newspaper "box" under my mailbox (slows them down too much I guess to provide such "quality" service), so I stopped buying/reading the local newspaper altogether. If they provided an electronic delivery (e.g. headlines by email, better/faster [not necessarily without ads, but definitely not annoying click-thru crap they typically have now] website access) for a reasonable charge, then I'd at least consider it; but it would have to be considerably LESS than the charge for paper delivery--certainly not more. I still actually place some value on the local news that a newspaper used to/still could provide, but not to the point of dealing with its current incarnation. Just using something like Zinio would be enough. |
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Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL
 ·Comcast
 ·Embarq
| reply to baineschile
 Consider that in order to get on line delivery you have to subscribe to some kind of internet access. You cannot conveniently carry the paper with you if you use public transportation. If you want to have a hard copy you will wind up paying for ink and paper to print to the paper. That means that $15.00 per month for a subscription is just the tip of the iceburg. I received written notice from PC Magazine that they were going digital and will no longer deliver the magazine in hard copy form. I advised the subscription department that I would not be renewing my subscription when it expires in a couple of months. Although many say that eliminating hard copy publications saves materials (trees) we will no longer be able to archive copies of the magazines they purchase for future reference. Forget about archiving on a hard drive. A while back I tried to open a file and found that I no longer had an application that could open the file. |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| said by Mr Matt  : Consider that in order to get on line delivery you have to subscribe to some kind of internet access. If you are going to use a 21st Century news medium, you may as well use 21st Century methods to obtain the news. You probably already have an ISP, so it's not really an additional charge. Plus it's hard to throw a rock and hot his a coffee house, cafe, restruant, book store, hotel, library, or many other types of businesses that don't provide WIFI access if you don't have an ISP of your own.
Plus if you don't have an ISP, online delivery really isn't going to be your preferred method of getting the news. And you wouldn't be subject to an ISP tax anyways...
You cannot conveniently carry the paper with you if you use public transportation. So get a PDA, phone, laptop, or Kindle type device. Again, 21st Century devices for a 21st Century delivery method.
If you want to have a hard copy you will wind up paying for ink and paper to print to the paper. So save an electronic version. Digital lasts forever without losing quality while almost all newsprint these days will yellow in a relatively short period unless specially treated. For those instances where you really want a hardcopy, say for a scrapbook, the cost to print it out is almost trivial even for photographic quality.
That means that $15.00 per month for a subscription is just the tip of the iceburg. So what if it is. We criticize newspapers for not getting with the times, and obviously there is demand for it otherwise they wouldn't be switching, yet the consumers don't want to accept the fact that the pricing model may have to change.
I received written notice from PC Magazine that they were going digital and will no longer deliver the magazine in hard copy form.
...
Although many say that eliminating hard copy publications saves materials (trees) we will no longer be able to archive copies of the magazines they purchase for future reference. Forget about archiving on a hard drive. A while back I tried to open a file and found that I no longer had an application that could open the file. Digital mediums are one for perfect examples of a genre that is ideally suited for digital distribution. Tech is constantly changing. Content today becomes yesterday's news in pretty short order. I've kept some print tech magazines for several years, but mainly for nostalgia reasons, not for business or functional ones. Several programmer journals that I've subscribed to digital versions were better then print as you could easily copy/page source code, link to programs, etc instead of having to go to a computer and type in the links.
PC Magazine has an archive going back to August of 2000. If that isn't far enough back, what content are you wanting to look at that you can't get? The ads?
I advised the subscription department that I would not be renewing my subscription when it expires in a couple of months. Hopefully you told them why too. If it's because they don't have an archival format that is a standard, then tell them that. |
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