Tuesday, September 18, 2007

NY Times Now 100% Free!

It feels like forever since the New York Times pulled the ridiculous stunt of charging internet users to read their columnists. For so long now, I've had to use a set of tricks to read Krugman, Dowd and the others to get past the fees the Times wanted to charge all of us. Well that era of dumbassery (yes that is my word) is now over, the Times has finally submitted.

Now I don't have to tell you how I was able to read TimesSelect for free, because we can all do it via their website. That means the Times will enable themselves to keep web users longer, viewing more pages and....you guessed it, able to generate more online ad revenue. Genius isn't it?

Why they ever thought that would work confuses the mind to no end. Sure, I'll pay for somethings on the internet, like my groceries, Netflix, random EBay crap and an occasional contribution to worthy causes. Though I have not and obviously will never pay to read the Times (online that is). It is still the paper of record in our country and I thoroughly enjoy it (plus the CityRoom is an awesome resource).

Now make sure you don't try and charge us again, and we're all good.