bob.os
Columbus *not* Cbus
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Interesting. Marrison mentioned this at the new format roll-out event, but didn't say it would come so soon.
They seem to be getting ready to spend millions promoting their paper redesign, including a TV ad buy during the Olympic opening ceremony, but will drop a paywall unannounced.
$15/mo for their site is way too rich for me.
bucki12
wp
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Walker said:
Anyone's free to start a topic, share a link or post their own news here.
Definitely, but I think a lot of the more banal stuff is worth knowing, but not really deserving of a thread and if it gets one it gets buried quickly by a pile of other posts.
I think that is just the nature of discussion blogs. CU is definitely great at what it does.
NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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It's weird that the digital only edition is more expensive than getting print plus the digital edition.
NYT gives you 20 free articles a month, plus if you click to an article from someone's blog post you can read it for free. People who subscribe to the paper edition get web access for free. Not to mention it's incredibly easy for anyone to get around the paywall. I think they did that on purpose to dampen the bad feelings. If you really want NYT free you can still get it with a slight inconvenience. Unfortunately it looks like the dispatch won't be as easy from what I can tell.
NYT can probably get away with it because they are one of the most respected newspapers. People from all over the country and world read it. Nobody cares about the Columbus Dispatch outside of Columbus.. I think this is a very bad move on their part.
bob.os
Columbus *not* Cbus
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misskitty
Columbus
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If anyone wanted to read more than 10 articles from the Dickspatch there are always ways around it just saying. It is not as if you are stealing from the community right? You are just saving some coins from bailing them out. lol
The NYT went from 20 articles to 10 a few months ago.
NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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misskitty said:
If anyone wanted to read more than 10 articles from the Dickspatch there are always ways around it just saying. It is not as if you are stealing from the community right? You are just saving some coins from bailing them out. lolThe NYT went from 20 articles to 10 a few months ago.
Oh,, never noticed. Usually within the first few days of the month I have to start clicking on NYClean to read anyway.
It looks like the dispatch is using a different method that won't be so easy to remove.. and I kind of doubt the dispatch has a large enough motivated enough readership to have someone who's capable and wants to take the time to figure it out.
joev
Merion Village
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They built their own paywall rather than buying something off the shelf. I can't imagine this will be more financially productive for them than something like improving their online advertising offerings... They're giving up a lot of eyeballs of the demographic advertisers are most interesting in.
mrpoppinzs
Arena District
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I am seeing more older people with ipads, and I talked to a couple and they said that they got theirs so they could read the Dispatch in large print and when they travel.
Anecedotal, but it may be a trend.
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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mrpoppinzs said:
I am seeing more older people with ipads, and I talked to a couple and they said that they got theirs so they could read the Dispatch in large print and when they travel.Anecedotal, but it may be a trend.
dunno about the ipad, but the Kindle edition of the dispatch (full re-sizable text of all the articles, with a few pics, no ads, delivered automatically by wireless every day) is $7/month and is *way* nicer and faster to read than their website.
mrpoppinzs
Arena District
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I think there is a kindle app on the ipad.
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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I can borrow ebooks from the library.. too bad I can't borrow the epaper, too.
Of course, they need to make money. I think they run a very real risk of becoming irrelevant and disconnected from the community though. People will turn to the local news channel websites which are likely to stay free. Unfortunately they all suck, but maybe the dispatch closing the blinds will lead to increased traffic and improvement in their quality.
Until then I guess it's to the library for me. I wonder if the libraries will have web subscriptions?
drew
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Mercurius said:
The Dispatch is in a precarious place I feel--because if you want content and are willing to pay, for almost every category, someone else does it better.
(mostly) true.
Pablo said:
So, you want the Dispatch to provide free content forever? - be realistic.
True.
I tend to think you'll get a reasonable lay of the land in trying to reconcile the above.
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