Well, I was pleased to discover that the electronic edition of the West Australian newspaper seems to mostly work fine on the Mac despite a warning that "Your browser environment is not fully supported". <http://enewspaper.thewest.com.au/daily/client.asp?skin=demo>
Just the sort of thing I thought I might like to view wirelessly on my Powerbook via our airport network at home. (somewhat off-topic vent follows!) :-) However I couldn't believe it when I discovered that it costs 3-4 times the price of the print version. ie. $4 to purchase a single electronic edition or $950 to subscribe for a year. (and that's without the West Magazine etc) Am I alone in thinking publishers should charge less not more than their printed versions for electronic versions of their publications considering the savings on printing and distribution? Even the New York Times charges almost half the price of the West at US$384 annually (or US$174 for students or educators) for a fully downloadable version (60MBs per paper, 7 issues a week) which I still think is a bit on the expensive side of things, but at least is a bit more reasonable. For comparison Time Magazine charges US$49 for a year's subscription to their electronic version compared to US$221.20 per year for their printed versions (56 editions). I emailed them and the subscriptions manager replied saying: > Your comments regarding the price of the electronic edition of The West > Australian are noted, but the aim of the electronic edition is not to > replace the printed version of the paper. The aim is to provide a valid > alternative for those who are beyond the reach of the distribution network > in place for the printed newspaper. This includes subscribers in the > eastern States and overseas, where a single edition can cost upwards of $20. > In the local market the electronic edition will not appear attractive > against the printed edition, but in these distant markets we hope that > subscribers will see it as a very viable option. > > I hope that this helps to explain the pricing of the electronic edition. So they're going for a tiny market at premium prices rather than exploiting the mass market at more reasonable rates. *sigh* I guess I'll just go back to reading the multiplicity of free news sources out on the internet and forget about getting a bit more local news and features. (editorial biases not withstanding!) -Mart -------------------------------------- Martin Hill mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] homepages: http://mart.ozmac.com Mb: 0417-967-969 hm: (08)9314-5242
