"... as well as the growing number of sites that offer memberships (like The Loop and Daring Fireball)." So there is a concept, that you can't tell people about, they have to experience it, then they "get it." Small anecdote, when I left Sun in 1995 I went to a startup called "GolfWeb" which was publishing an online magazine about Golf. I saw the web as the new world of publishing (I was waaaaaaaaay early :-)) and ha…
The problem with paid content is that you only know whether it's worthy for you in hindsight. On top of that you have to compete with gratis (and often surprisingly good quality). You have all the problems of an asymmetrical information market and you also have to break a cultural gap. Honestly, I don't subscribe to magazines anymore. I just can't get consistently satisfied with any single source. The only subscripti…
I still subscribe to several magazines, but by far my favorite in terms of understanding this new reality is The Economist. If you subscribe you get your content digitally for no additional cost. Presentation is good and not overwhelming with ads (of course the magazine isn't either so perhaps its more cultural to the publisher as well). One magazine I subscribe to but don't pay for as an 'app' is Popular Mechanics. Their presentation is less useful in digital form than their printed form sadly.