Comments on: 5 Reasons Why The New York Times Paywall Will Fail (And Why It’s Really Dumb) http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed Sun, 19 May 2013 22:15:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Greg http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6541 Greg Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:08:38 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6541 Thanks again for sharing.

- Greg

]]> By: Ralph Berrier, Jr. http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6540 Ralph Berrier, Jr. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:04:26 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6540 Saying that the “revenues” from the Net is a “step up” is like celebrating finding a dime on the sidewalk while a $50 bill flies out of your back pocket. Ad-based online revenues will never sustain a broad-based, original-reporting news organization. Never. The Internet Age of Newspapers is not new. The NYT has been online since 1994. We are no longer dealing in hypotheticals. The data is abundant. The free Net model has been a cataclysmic financial failure for newspapers, which should have been predictable.

]]> By: Greg http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6539 Greg Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:53:14 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6539 Actually, like most newspapers, they probably lose money. So giving “free” on the internet (where print and distribution costs are basically zero) is a step up.

Thanks again for your comment.

- Greg

]]> By: Ralph Berrier, Jr. http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6538 Ralph Berrier, Jr. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:50:21 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6538 More than it makes giving it away for free.

]]> By: Greg http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6537 Greg Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:48:01 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6537 Ralph,

Thanks for sharing your insight.

btw. How much does the NY Times make on cover price after print and distribution costs?

- Greg

]]> By: Ralph Berrier, Jr. http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6536 Ralph Berrier, Jr. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:41:24 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6536 The Onion’s take. Which makes more sense than this absurd blog.

“To ask NYTimes.com’s 33 million unique monthly visitors to switch to a cash-for-manufactured-goods-based model from the standard everything-online-should-be-free-for-reasons-nobody-can-really-explain-based model is pretty fearless.”

]]> By: Greg http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6472 Greg Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:55:10 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6472 Reiner,

I’ve dropped my activity on the site as well. I can cherrypick all the best stuff from places like http://www.RealClearPolitics.com and social media. What I don’t do anymore is surf around the site. As you pointed out, the basic news stories I can get elsewhere. I’ve switched my homepage to http://www.washingtonpost.com

- Greg

]]> By: Reiner Wilhelms http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6470 Reiner Wilhelms Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:44:26 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6470 I used to be a very frequent reader of online NYT until just a few weeks ago. When they began to talk about their pay wall I expected it might still be affordable. My limit was 5 dollars per month or $50 per year, and whow was I miffed that it’s a lot more. I consider it now a true sign of their arrogance which unfortunately I didn’t notice earlier. If they see themselves as such an elite organ that you have to be a committed member of the club to have a look at their glorious wares, then let them keep it to themselves and their affixed followers. Within in a few weeks I realized how little I really need the NYT. To the opposite – It opened new horizons to follow the news on Al-Jazeera english, Democracy Now, Real News network… It’s easy now to read the British newspapers and the German, and French, even Japanese ones, perhaps with a little help of google translate (the google chrome browser allows setting it up to automatically detect the language and translate, with a fair to good accuracy as I can attest for German and French). The NYT’s decision is a great cold turkey occasion for a news junkie in me, and I feel already on the way to better health :-) Others may try this, but I figure if all news outlets become pay for view – It only means they think they got enough people hooked. And this usually means that they aren’t really exceptional but are simply part of the main stream. Which is anyways everywhere reproduced.

]]> By: Greg http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6340 Greg Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:30:49 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6340 Good point!

- Greg

]]> By: Dave http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/5-reasons-the-new-york-times-paywall-will-fail-and-why-it%e2%80%99s-really-dumb/comment-page-1/#comment-6339 Dave Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:15:45 +0000 http://www.digitaltonto.com/?p=3416#comment-6339 Plus, they didn’t offer anything “new and improved!” They simply asked for money for what people used to get free. Not a good idea.

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