I was one of hundreds of thousands who’ve gotten an offer for a free subscription to the New York Times for the rest of the year:
I really don’t understand the whole Times strategy. I’m just the kind of digital slacker that they should be able to entice into a subscription, even though it is grossly overpriced compared to the rest of the market. Hell, I’m enough of a sucker to run their Chrome extension and their Android app. Yet they give me a free subscription that will probably last far beyond this paywall experiment.
This leads me to think that the speculation that the whole thing is an attempt to keep paper subscribers paying might be true. That’s the kind of boneheaded, backward-looking plan that I’d expect from the third generation inbreed running that place. I’m surprised that Pinch the cockeyed genius didn’t just shut the fucking website down to make us all buy a paper copy.
Also, too: you might get this offer if you log out and log back in to the site. I got it via email, so your mileage may vary.
(h/t reader John)
stuckinred
I wonder if they’ll do free to .edu folks?
Garrigus Carraig
Paywall? What paywall?
PurpleGirl
I should check my juno.com email and see if they sent me the invitation.
paradox
I lost my password months ago and their recovery system is busted. I let them know, nothing happened.
I copy/paste a headline I want to read into google and it often works.
[shrugs]They have some good essayists, but that paper is a piece of shit government complicit tool, always know it.
JPL
For years I had the Times delivered and because of financial reasons cut back to Sundays only so the experiment doesn’t pertain to me. I will say, I felt more informed thumbing through all the pages. It’s not a bad paper.
@stuckinred: Your neck of the woods certainly dictated the evening news. It’s always sad when a police officer is murdered. Hopefully the other one survives.
13th Generation
Why anyone is buying into this paywall nonsense is beyond me. There are too many ways around it, and who pays for anything on the Internet these days anyway?
jwb
I tried it a couple of hours ago and so far no email.
Warren Terra
The graphic you linked is a bit unfair – it uses the price for the web + iPod + iPad package, which is an absurdity but is unlikely to be what happens in many cases – and because it fixates on this extreme situation ($455/year), it manages to ignore the fact that the basic level ($180/year) is also rather steeply priced. I can’t be the only person who would have happily paid $60/year and is still contemplating the rate they’re asking.
MikeJ
pleasepleaseplease keep Friedman, Chunky Reese, and David Brooks behind the paywall.
They were nice and irrelevant in the era of Times Select. Why change it?
paradox
It is too a bad paper, they fetch and shut up for anyone in power, it’s completely disgusting.
It’s easy to work around this pos firewall, but without a login I’m sunk. I’m not exactly stressing it, although screwing them with a little code would be fun.
JPL
The Washington Post is a strange publication; the Wall Street Journal is becoming more like Fox News; the USA today is like McDonald’s for news so before everyone ditches the NYTimes, think about the alternatives.
I personally wish I could afford delivery every day of the week.
I enjoy getting updated on this site but I also want more detailed analysis. Huffington Post is not going to add to my knowledge and the same goes for Drudge.
MikeJ
Just noticed a problem with the original post. You actually sign in? And you had a sign in created with a real email address?
I never signed in, and any place that requires it eats throwaway accounts.
stuckinred
@JPL: I’m listening to the scanner right now. We are a block from the hospital where the wounded officer is and it’s crawling with media. The dude has skeedadled out to the airport area and I’d be surprised if they get him at night.
eta
All reports is that the second officer will be ok but he was shot in the face and back so it can’t be that good.
BombIranForChrist
This will be fun to watch.
Once this fails, it will be especially fun to see what the _next_ scheme will be.
It’s like watching weekly episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle with Boris Godunov being constantly outwitted by forest animals.
At some point, they need to realize that Bobo et al. aren’t really earning their salaries and will need to go.
jwb
@Warren Terra: What I can’t figure out is why the Times didn’t start with a low teaser rate, get people used to paying, and then ratchet the rate up over a two-three year period.
Jonas
Is it that backward-looking? I’ve thought of it as a too-clever-for-its-own-good response to Apple’s recent rule changes about in-app subscriptions. They don’t want to offer the same price on iOS with Apple getting 30% of the cut, so they found a way to entice most rational consumers to stick with getting subscriptions from NYTimes directly (via print) in order to get the digital benefits.
arguingwithsignposts
look, they can’t even get their multimedia stuff to work on the iPad because they’re using Flash Sucks. Why would I pay more for less?
stuckinred
@BombIranForChrist: Badanov.
jwb
@BombIranForChrist: Unfortunately, I imagine that Bobo is earning his salary. He makes the most emailed list frequently enough that I’m sure his hit total is fine. Krugman is certainly the king in that department, however, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that his column and blog generate close to half the hits on the opinion page. Chunky Bobo is almost certainly a money-loser, even if he serves the useful function of making Bobo seem reasonable.
JGabriel
I’m reposting this from an earlier thread, because it’s on topic here. I got the same e-mail this afternoon — after following the Crain’s advice to log out and back in yesterday.
Like many people, when I tried to sign up, I got an error saying it was already redeemed or some such nonsense. If you are one of the people getting that error too, this is how I worked around it:
That’s what worked for me, anyway.
This is Public Service Announcement. I don’t work for the Times. If you’re having problems using the invite, and the above procedure doesn’t fix it, don’t bitch at me. E-mail or call the Times and bitch at them. I just posted the above because I’m good at trouble-shooting shit, and figured it could help other people experiencing the same problem.
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Ecks
I don’t think it’s necessarily dumb (it might be, but it might not be). The point is segmentation. There’s lots of fly-by people who’ll drop in to read an article now and then, and these are the people who would be scared off if they had to pay a dime. That would be a major dent in their traffic and therefore advertising revenue, so they’re letting those peeps get their few articles a month or year for free.
It’s the regular users who are there all the time who are willing to pay, because their frequency of use indicates real loyalty (they just really like it, don’t see great alternatives, etc). And those are the ones that this paywall is designed to capture.
Maybe it’ll bomb, and it DOES sound pretty damned overpriced, but the thinking behind it isn’t necessarily as dumb as DougJ is making out.
jwb
@Jonas: They could have just not released an iPad app. Seems like it would have been a simpler solution.
arguingwithsignposts
@Jonas:
I saw that apple dig there.
Calouste
@JPL:
guardian.co.uk/america
spiegel.de/international
english.aljazeera.net
No reason not to ditch the NYT.
Jonas
@jwb: but they want people to read nytimes on the ipad and on all other platforms. they just don’t want to give 30% of the revenue to apple.
JGabriel
@jwb: If they’re still sending them out, and you’re eligible, then you’ll probably get it tomorrow sometime. My invite came in e-mail, a day after using the log out & log back in trick.
.
JGabriel
@Calouste:
Krugman.
.
Mary G
I end up going there maybe 20 times a month, so I should be OK. Doesn’t sound like they are that serious about this. If they had made it quite a bit cheaper (5?), I would have signed up because I don’t feel good about getting journalism for free.
As it is, I won’t pay because I can’t afford it and now I don’t have to feel guilty because they are giving the 20 articles away.
Litlebritdifrnt
I get the the dead tree version of my local paper even though I can get it online for free. Why? Cause I want the coupons on Sunday and cause I don’t want my local dead tree paper to go out of business.
JPL
@Calouste: The Guardian is good for world news but sometimes you need local news, business news, arts and entertainment. Personally, I find the NYTimes the best source that we have. I do the puzzle so there’s that also, too.
My feeling is that if we jump ship on the print media then they won’t have the funds necessary to hire decent journalists. We might be already there. I just don’t want to end up in a world where we depend on Huffington or Drudge.
jwb
@Jonas: I agree that they don’t want to give 30% of the revenue to Apple, and by pricing the iPad app 30% higher than other means of accessing the paper, they’ve pretty much guaranteed that a low percentage of subscription income goes to Apple, since I don’t see many taking the Times up on the offer. But they could have accomplished the same goal by not offering an app (iPad readers could still get the Times through the website). I suppose it does allow the Times to offer the iPad app to current hard copy subscribers without having to pay Apple.
MikeJ
@jwb: It’s a pity that developers can’t freely write apps for any tablet computer that people want to use.
peej
I tried the ipad app. I’d much rather use my browser like I’ve always done.
arguingwithsignposts
@JGabriel: Is Krugman enough to offset douthat, brooks, et. al. No offense to the good professor, but he could start his own blog, or get a gig with someone else and all the readers would follow.
JPL
@arguingwithsignposts:
where? The print media is cutting back so I suppose he could just post and hope the readers will come.
Edit.. I have never read the Doughy person online or in the print media. That’s my choice. I don’t necessarily read the Times for their opinion pieces because I tend to have my own. I do love Krugman though.
Will Reks
I subscribe to Krugman’s rss feed. Does that a register as a NYT hit every time I open up Google Reader?
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
I’ve seen this sort of clueless flailing before. At my own much smaller, much newer place of work. Not sure what the NYT’s excuse is.
JGabriel
@arguingwithsignposts:
It’s not an offset. You read Krugman and skip the others.
True, but why should he give up a columnist’s salary and publication reach at the New York Times? That’s a mid-six figure salary, and unparalled paper distribution. That’s an invaluable reach for someone interested in making sure his economic philosophy gets as widespread an audience as possible.
.
J.W. Hamner
I saw complimentary access offered from an advertiser, but not from the NYT itself. Assuming you are talking about the former, I don’t know why it’s so befuddling. I assume they’d prefer to get their money from advertisers than explicitly charge. This also seems to be why there are so many ways around the pay wall… they’re not making anybody pay, but they are encouraging heavy users to pay.
Wasn’t this supposed to argument for file sharing of music? That most people want to pay, and that harsh copy protection just encourages piracy and is a hindrance to the legit consumer?
I would think that if this is a failure it does just as much to blow apart the idea that loose controls are viable, as well as that pay walls can work.
The ithacan
I used to love the Times.
I was insanely loyal.
Then Whitewater.
Then Iraq.
Then I wondered.
Might these people be in the pockets of the plutocrats.
I concluded that they were and stopped reading the paper.
I don’ t miss it.
arguingwithsignposts
@JGabriel: I think you’re overestimating his NYT salary, fwiw. He’s not a paid shill like Douthat. He has a regular job teaching at a reputable institution. He doesn’t need the Times, they need him. Unlike Brooks, Friedman, Dowd and the other Very Serious People.
JGabriel
J.W. Hamner:
I think you’re conflating hatred of DRM, which everyone despises because it intrudes on fair use and privacy, with complaints about incompetence — which is just eminently mockable.
Seriously, there are ways to do subscriptions right, like the Netflix model which comes in for a lot of praise due to its affordability and usability.
The Times model is overly complex, way too expensive compared to its competitors, and hobbled by its twin goals of blocking people from getting too much free content while wanting to attract as many eyeballs as possible to its advertisers.
On top of which, it appears to be buggy.
.
Elizabelle
@JPL:
Concur with your comment 11.
Some foolishness, but a lot of solid reporting/first draft of history at the NYTimes. You have to support what you appreciate. Or it’s gone.
J.W. Hamner
How is $15 a month “way too expensive”? That’s basically what every subscription costs… I think I might pay more for WoW.
arguingwithsignposts
@Elizabelle:
yes, like judith miller, jayson blair, etc.
ETA: if I see another “journalist” write “an official who spoke off the record because he was not authorized to comment” I’m going to fucking scream. That is pure-D bullshit.
JGabriel
@arguingwithsignposts:
I could be wrong, but Krugman has a twice weekly gig, a Nobel prize (more cachet for The Times), and he’s been there over a decade. I would think he gets paid more than Douthat, at least as much as Brooks, and maybe a little less than Dowd, Friedman, Kristof, Herbert, and the other NYT lifers who may have additional editorial responsibilities.
NYMag reports that Friedman was getting 300k in 2005, so I figure PK is at 200k, minimum, and probably more like 300k.
But that’s just speculation. I don’t know for sure.
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arguingwithsignposts
@JGabriel: proving once again that Friedman is grossly overpaid.
ETA: 300K? head/desk isn’t evocative enough for that bullshit.
JGabriel
@arguingwithsignposts: No argument here.
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Barb (formerly Gex)
@Will Reks: It’s a safe bet they set up their rss to track the downloads.
Arundel
I’m a paper subscriber, but it’s still going to be an ungodly pain in the ass to convince them of that. I already tried to confirm, and it’s as screwy as it was with Select.
Another VERY peculiar thing about NYT.com? It still “welcomes” me by an AOL name I used 15 years ago, even though my sign in and email are different, and I’m five computers later. And ditched AOL well over ten years ago. I guess it’s static IP or something. Oh, they suck.
Anne Laurie
Garrigus’s Nieman link actually has a pretty good solution to the ‘Okay, I’ll pay for an online sub, but why do I have to accept a pulp edition I don’t want to get the best price?’ question:
JWL
$15 additional bucks a month is a significant chunk of change to a lot of people.
Which is not to say that David Brooks alone isn’t worth every single cent of it.
J Edgar
I have a subscription to the NYTimes paper. When they started some fancy desktop reader about six months ago I needed to register online to down load the readerl. I already have a NYTime userid and password, but there was no way I could find to have that id recognized as a paying subscriber. I had to register as a paying paper subscriber and then choose a new ID and password.
The desktop reader (I think it uses Adobe Air) was a waste of time – I don’t even notice if they still promote that.
Triassic Sands
When I was reading about the onset of the paywall, I believe it said that the Times would honor an unlimited number of links from the outside. So, mistermix, all you have to do from your lofty position of privilege, is post links to the entire paper, every day. A side benefit might in BJ becoming the most visited political blog on the Internet — think of all the ad dollars!
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i am guessing the nyt wants to be an industry leader in the paywall model…this version won’t be as strict, nor as damaging, because they want the competition to do the same, then, as most of the industry adopts “nyt” paywall rules, they ratchet it up, slowly…
to a point where a viable business becomes aggregating access to multiple papers for one fee…
whoda thunk it, our esteemed and venerated print media is going the way of, and modelling itself after, the porn industry.
bob h
To put in a good word for the Times, you realize at times like these of international crisis how good they are. Extensive coverage of all the Middle East revolutions, and they seem to know more about the Japan nuclear crisis than the management of Tokyo Electric.
madmatt
as crack dealers and other low rent predators will tell ya, hook em for free first.
RedDirtGirl
Just clicked on a Glen Beck article and was directed to a free one-year subscription from Lincoln(-Mercury?). Thanks Glen!
Brachiator
This is what I’ve been hearing in various places. But this is a dumbass idea, compounded by charging iPad and other tablet device users more for the paper than people who subscribe to the print edition.
I seem to recall that when the telephone was invented, people assumed that it would be used like the telegraph. That is, you would go to a main office somewhere, or a business or hotel to use the telephone. That it would be a ubiquitous residential device was not initially considered.
Similarly, between smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other devices, it should be becoming obvious that people don’t need paper to get “newspapers” regularly and easily. The people at The Times are applying 19th century thinking to 21st century possibilities.
By the way, when was the last time anyone here used the physical White Pages or Yellow pages? By law in some states, the phone companies must provide printed white pages.