Subject: Re: Web users to pay for data
From: Angelique Mattioli ou Marianne Heimann (library@mail.interpac.be)
Date: ti 06 tammi 1998 - 16:56:37 EET
At 11:14 6/01/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Paul Taylor reported in the Financial Times of 29 December 1997 that a
>growing number of publishers and information providers are planning to
>charge for access to at least some of the data they make available on
>the internet. According to Paul Taylor, the move, mainly led by
>newspaper publishers, signals an important change in on-line business
>strategies as content owners seek to convert readers into paying
>subscribers.
>
>Until now most information available on the internet or via www pages
>has been free although some sites, including the Financial Times’
>website, ask their visitors to register before granting access. But in
>the past few weeks a number of US information providers have announced
>plans to charge.
>
>This month Business Week, the US-based business magazine, said it would
>charge subscription fees for its internet content. The New York Times
>began a pilot scheme asking users to pay for archived stories 10 days
>ago and Slate, Microsoft’s on-line political magazine, recently
>announced plans to start charging subscription fees.
>
>Some publishers charge for access to their sites but many other sites
>were set up on an experimental basis or as teasers for paper-based
>publications. While having a web-site has become almost essential for
>publishers, most sites continue to lose money despite the growth of
>on-line advertisements.
>
>Other publishers, particularly newspaper, fear that providing unlimited
>free access to archive material will undermine their existing feebased
>on-line information services. However, most newspapers including the New
>York Times, stress that they have no plans to charge for daily content.
>Earlier attempts by several US publishing groups to charge for current
>internet content were abandoned when the number of website visitors
>plummeted. But the Wall Street Journal and the Economist have
>successfully introduced subscription charges.
Internet interests me only if it is FREE. There are enough free sites
not to pay for what you want to find on it.
If people agree to pay that's their problem !
Well, I don't read my newspaper on the net. I still prefer the printed version.
But I'd love the access to the archive to stay FREE (for > subscribers)... If I pay my newspaper when I buy it, I've got the right > to keep it as long as I want and to go free into archives.
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allée des Templiers, 41, B - 6280 LOVERVAL
+32(0)71.44.71.72. Fax : +32(0)71.47.15.20.
library@mail.interpac.be
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