Des Moines Register to start charging for Online usage

**gogagig** · 02-22-2012, 02:55 PM

"I have some garbage for you for free. Don't want it? How about you give me 5 bucks for it, in that case?"

**acoustimac** · 02-22-2012, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by chuckd4735

Gannett Building Paywalls Around All Its Papers Except USA Today - Forbes

That's like putting up parking meters in a ghost town.

**Die4Cy** · 02-22-2012, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by gogagig

"I have some garbage for you for free. Don't want it? How about you give me 5 bucks for it, in that case?"

You joke about it, but I do know people who couldn't give away puppies until they advertised them for $100 apiece.

**JUKEBOX** · 02-22-2012, 02:58 PM

Looking forward to less Rag threads.

**ianoconnor** · 02-22-2012, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by Trice

People can mock the Register - and there's no question whatsoever that it is a shadow of the paper that it once was - but these limited paywalls seem to be gaining traction. The New York Times experimented with premium content years ago (Times Select) and it didn't do well. But awhile back they introduced the 20-articles-per-month paywall and from what I've read it's doing well. And, as others have noted, the Ames Tribune quietly did the same thing recently. I wondered if/when the Register would too.

I can't say I blame them, although I also can't say I'd pay for what the Register delivers right now. I get a copy of the Sunday paper from Kum and Go each week and I never cease to be shocked at how little original reporting is actually in there anymore.

The difference is, the NYT is worth paying for. The Rag is not.

**jj-cyclones** · 02-22-2012, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by ianoconnor

The difference is, the NYT is worth paying for. The Rag is not.

No it is not.

**NickTheGreat** · 02-22-2012, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Al_4_State

I think that if a paper did what the Register did pre-Gannett, they could maybe make it now-a-days by having interesting writers that did stories of local interest, but now that they just regurgitate the AP, its pretty worthless.

^^This. I used to goto their page often to see what is happening locally. But it seems more and more of it is just AP stuff these days

**Knownothing** · 02-22-2012, 03:04 PM

Well then how are we supposed to get our news online. Oh well maybe I will just go to one of the other one billion websites

**Freebird** · 02-22-2012, 03:05 PM

Step one: Fire all writers except Mark Hansen and Reka Basu, destroying what was once a nationally recognized paper, run mostly AP stories in place of missing writers.
Step two: Charge for access to AP stories that can be found free at numerous sites.
Step three: Profit.

Seems fool-proof to me.

**rebecacy** · 02-22-2012, 03:08 PM

news-papers are dead, some just don't know it yet.

**cyatheart** · 02-22-2012, 03:14 PM

I don't read it now except when I am extremely bored. I used to use the Telegraph Herald from Dubuque a lot online however for local news. Then that went to a pay site, so I don't use it now. They have to find a way to make some money other than this, nobody is going to pay for it.

So looks like I won't ever be going to DM Register either.

**gogagig** · 02-22-2012, 03:20 PM

This is like paying for porn.

**ianoconnor** · 02-22-2012, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by jj-cyclones

No it is not.

Well, more so than the Rag (plus a MUCH larger market). You get my point.

**Clone83** · 02-22-2012, 03:31 PM

The Forbes article said there will be something like 5 to 15 "free" articles per month.

There is a good chance I go over that currently. Since maybe 1/2 of those hits are duds, I'll probably - finally - avoid their site altogether and come out ahead in the deal, personally.

Thanks, USA Today.

**ISU4ME** · 02-22-2012, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by mfelske

I saw that the Ames Tribune is doing a online subscription thing. You can read 12 (I think) articles for free per month, but if anything more will cost you.

It has been that way for at least the last 1-2 months. All it has done is stopped me from visiting their website. I wonder what doing something like this does to the web hits which in turn I assume hurts their on-line advertising dollars.