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New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

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Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#21

Post by kbenson »

digitalsushi wrote: post #15
jonathansizz wrote: post #11

I think it's pretty sad that so many people balk at paying very modest amounts of money for high-quality material. It's as though everything that's available on the web should be free, just because it's on the web. It's the same with people moaning about paying a couple of dollars for an app or even installing pirated versions rather than paying. There's something seriously wrong here. The New Yorker costs $50/year -…

We've had this thing to deliver content for 20 years (the web) but in the same 20 years no one has invented a simple way to pay for the content. I'll balk at 50 dollars a year the same way I'll balk at 3500 dollars worth of gourmet coffees paid on January 1st. Just let me spend small amounts so I don't become aware of my own habits.

A while back NPR's Planet Money did a show on the penny[1]. It included a piece on a company that was trying to allow and make easy to charge/make fractional cent payments, so we could have content that cost a fraction of a cent. While there are obvious technical hurdles to be overcome at multiple levels in a technology like that, I like the idea of allowing small payments for content to support the production and delivery of that content.

1: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/05/16/312732409/episode-...

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#22

Post by kbenson »

Ricapar wrote: post #17
digitalsushi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had this thing to deliver content for 20 years (the web) but in the same 20 years no one has invented a simple way to pay for the content. I'll balk at 50 dollars a year the same way I'll balk at 3500 dollars worth of gourmet coffees paid on January 1st. Just let me spend small amounts so I don't become aware of my own habits.

> Just let me spend small amounts so I don't become aware of my own habits. ding ding ding Amazon's mobile app does this excellently with the One-Click purchase. And don't even get me started on Steam sales. I dare not look at my spending history on either of those two.

For me that's GOG.com and the Humble Bundles. I keep telling myself that someday I'll have the time to go back and beat Baldur's Gate, or any of the hundreds of other games I've bought on sale. Fat chance...

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#23

Post by jonathansizz »

tomjen3 wrote: post #18
jonathansizz wrote: post #11

I think it's pretty sad that so many people balk at paying very modest amounts of money for high-quality material. It's as though everything that's available on the web should be free, just because it's on the web. It's the same with people moaning about paying a couple of dollars for an app or even installing pirated versions rather than paying. There's something seriously wrong here. The New Yorker costs $50/year -…

I might not object to paying 50 bucks a year, but I read articles shared by dozens of people on different websites so it would be more like ten times that, to different publications. I very rarely actually go to any one publications website.

I'm sure there's a better way for authors to get paid. Would you pay (say) $1 for a credit for any five articles from the archives of a magazine, with free previews to help you decide? Or would you pay for a Netflix-like service for long-form materials?

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#24

Post by IanCal »

digitalsushi wrote: post #15
jonathansizz wrote: post #11

I think it's pretty sad that so many people balk at paying very modest amounts of money for high-quality material. It's as though everything that's available on the web should be free, just because it's on the web. It's the same with people moaning about paying a couple of dollars for an app or even installing pirated versions rather than paying. There's something seriously wrong here. The New Yorker costs $50/year -…

We've had this thing to deliver content for 20 years (the web) but in the same 20 years no one has invented a simple way to pay for the content. I'll balk at 50 dollars a year the same way I'll balk at 3500 dollars worth of gourmet coffees paid on January 1st. Just let me spend small amounts so I don't become aware of my own habits.

> no one has invented a simple way to pay for the content.

Single click amazon payments, google wallet? Or gumroad? Or stripe?

How about monthly things like patreon? Flattr? Or things like bitcointip on reddit?

How much simpler do you want things?

http://www.patreon.com/

https://flattr.com/

https://gumroad.com/

https://stripe.com/gb

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#25

Post by rsync »

thathonkey wrote: post #2

New Yorker and NYT are two of the only old school media companies whose content I would still pay for. They have some of the best journalism around (NYT for straight news, New Yorker for editorial, long-form, & culture pieces). I think New Yorker's pay wall will probably be a success. I was already prepared to pay for a subscription when the time came.

"New Yorker and NYT are two of the only old school media companies whose content I would still pay for."

Agreed. We subscribe to both (NYT physically, and New Yorker via Kindle) and even if I expect not to read them in a particular week/month/year I still keep the subscription up because I want to support and "dollar vote" for these publications.

I would like to also add that the third (of three) that I support in this way is the "London Review of Books" which is simply fantastic. It's not just book reviews ... there is editorial content, foreign correspondence[1], etc. I cannot recommend it enough.

[1] Perhaps you have noted that one of the more discussed and read pieces about the google bus controversy, by Rebecca Solnit, was originally published in LRB...

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#26

Post by lobster_johnson »

thathonkey wrote: post #2

New Yorker and NYT are two of the only old school media companies whose content I would still pay for. They have some of the best journalism around (NYT for straight news, New Yorker for editorial, long-form, & culture pieces). I think New Yorker's pay wall will probably be a success. I was already prepared to pay for a subscription when the time came.

Have you tried The New York Review of Books (nybooks.com)?

As venerable a cultural and literary institution as TNY, but the signal-to-noise ratio is much higher; less fetishization of the NY cultural scene (NYRB, despite its name, doesn't cover NY, and is ironically seldom about book reviews), less glitz. The paper edition is wonderfully old school, basically a tabloid newspaper format with zero thought to design or typography.

From what I can tell, all of their content ends up on the site. Their Kindle edition has both the digital version and the paper layout in the same file so you can switch between the two modes.

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#27

Post by ch4s3 »

adrusi wrote: post #13
dublinben wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other side, I rarely read the New Yorker. I enjoy the occasional article that pops up here, but I wouldn't pay to read any of them. They'll lose me as a reader by going behind a paywall.

The slate article calls it a "metered paywall" which means that unsubscribed users will be able to read a limited number or articles per week. You'll probably be below your limit every time "the occaisional article" pops up.

Not to mention that if you're the free rider type, you can just read the articles in incognito and avoid the metering issue.

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#28

Post by [deleted] »

jonathansizz wrote: post #11

I think it's pretty sad that so many people balk at paying very modest amounts of money for high-quality material. It's as though everything that's available on the web should be free, just because it's on the web. It's the same with people moaning about paying a couple of dollars for an app or even installing pirated versions rather than paying. There's something seriously wrong here. The New Yorker costs $50/year -…

[deleted]

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#29

Post by ch4s3 »

bjlorenzen wrote: post #12

I disagree with the very premise; why go out of your way to encourage bad behaviour? I stand for freedom of information and will avoid New Yorker from this point forward.

you're confusing information (raw), and content which is built on analysis and presentation of that information.

Re: New Yorker Stories to Read Before the Paywall Goes Up

#30

Post by spenuke »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #26
thathonkey wrote: post #2

New Yorker and NYT are two of the only old school media companies whose content I would still pay for. They have some of the best journalism around (NYT for straight news, New Yorker for editorial, long-form, & culture pieces). I think New Yorker's pay wall will probably be a success. I was already prepared to pay for a subscription when the time came.

Have you tried The New York Review of Books (nybooks.com)? As venerable a cultural and literary institution as TNY, but the signal-to-noise ratio is much higher; less fetishization of the NY cultural scene (NYRB, despite its name, doesn't cover NY, and is ironically seldom about book reviews), less glitz. The paper edition is wonderfully old school, basically a tabloid newspaper format with zero thought to design or…

YES - The NYRB is fantastic. But, no, not everything is online for free. A number of articles are behind a paywall; some are free. I believe others are website-only, but they are not the usual chum to just attract viewers; they're actually good stuff that simply doesn't fit in the print issue.
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