Introducing BetsySelect

So this morning I woke up, fixed the coffee, walked out on my balcony to check the weather (damn, cold once again), then sat down at my computer for my morning read of the NYTimes before heading off to Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem (my school, see building above). I usually dash through the headlines and leap right to the editorials, my favorites being friedman, krugman, dowd and david brooks (yes, way more conservative than me, but often has some incisive things to say). As i try to access an article on katrina and race by krugman, i remember that today the NYtimes initiates 'TimesSelect'. If i toss down fifty bucks per year, i too can "meet Paul Krugman" via video and then have access to his articles (and all other editorials, the business section, the sports section, etc.). I might pay fifty bucks to meet Paul in person over coffee, but no way over video on my computer screen. The New York Times has gone the way of the Salon magazine financial model, pay a flat fee and you are granted full access. Fortunately at salon.com you can still get to all of the articles, you just have to watch a slew of credit card ads before you are granted a 'pass'. There is no such option now with the NYTimes. Its fifty bucks or nada.

I predict it will last less than a year. The income stream will be less than expected and hits on the website will decline, motivating advertisers on nytimes to remove their ads. Just a guess--we will see what happens. As small payment capabilities are increasing rapidly over the web (such as buying an individual song at itunes for 99cents and you dont have to be suckered into buying the cd for 12 bucks when you only like four songs), Im suprised that the Times didnt follow suit (e.g., buy krugman for 99 cents and forever ignore the right-wing ramblings of david brooks). This approach would provide an excellent means for the Times to figure out who is actually being read--although i would hate to see the Times toss a little read editorial writer if he/she offers a unique perspective. I still believe that the media provides a public good by presenting a range of ideas, perhaps quite naive of me. Perhaps the flat fifty buck a year plan would encourage readers to avail themselves to read opinions other than those that are similar to their own, but this then assumes that these readers have a spare fifty bucks.

In order to raise the fifty bucks needed for TimesSelect, Ive decided to implement BetsySelect on this blog. However, providing a bit more flexibility---you can either pay a flat fee of five bucks for full access to my ramblings over the whole year (i value my ramblings at about 10% of full access to the NewYorkTimes) or pay 25 cents per blog entry.


Mom, there will be no more printing out the blog and handing it out to your friends for free! Im working on the xml/java coding to enable credit card and pay-pal purchases. Until i get the kinks worked out, please enjoy the free read, it's on me.

in the meantime, here is what m. thinks of Times Select.

And red-head barbie is busy at work, spear-heading a write-in email campaign to the Public Editor of the New York Times, Mr. Byron Calame who can be reached at:
• mailto:public@nytimes.com• Phone: (212) 556-7652• Address: Public Editor The New York Times 229 West 43rd St.New York, NY 10036-3959

And if red-head barbie's campaign doesn' work, I'm going to sic donovon on you, Mr. Byron Calame!