In my last post I said I didn’t feel like ranting, and I still don’t, at least not about anything political, but I must put in my two cents about a recent development in the world of the Ipad.
The New Yorker now has an app. I just downloaded it, but unfortunately there’s no free issue, which is the norm for magazine apps. No matter, there’s a short sample, and it appears to be laid out well.
Here’s the rub. The cost per issue is $4.99. That’s a dollar off the newsstand price, which isn’t bad, if you are only going to buy an occasional issue. But there’s no subscription option. We subscribe to the print edition, and I’d gladly pay the New Yorker the same price for an Ipad edition, but there’s no way I’m paying over $250.00/year for the New Yorker. How can they expect to make money with that kind of business model?
And, while we’re talking about Ipads and magazines, here’s hoping that the New York Review of Books will release an Ipad edition. Again, I’d be willing to pay what I paid for a paper subscription.
I’ve read in various places that Apple is holding up long term subscriptions for Ipad magazines. That really makes no sense, if it’s true.
End of rant.
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