Re: UKNM: Subscriptions

[Chris Heathcote]

At 6:23 am -0400 on 13/6/99, Clay Shirky wrote:


>Enough to have destroyed almost every for-fee information provider out

>there. Net distribution affects everybody - 1998 was the last year the

>Encyclopedia Brittanica published a paper edition, and they're still

>having trouble on the net. They may in the end become one of the few

>for-fee services out there, alongside theStreet, the Wall Street

>Journal, and a handful of others, but the vast majority of business

>models built on the idea that people will happily pay for content will

>fail.


They don't happily pay - they begrudgingly pay when there's no other 

way to gain the information for cheaper (Rule of Economics No. 1 - 

People are Smart (this is normally the reason economic models fall 

down ;) )).


>I have had quite the opposite experience, but then I'm a Yank, so a

>lot more of our businesses and media outlets are publishing full text

>on the Web these days.


There's a surprising amount of general information out there for 

free. When it comes to specialisation, people have to pay. It's a sad 

fact that a lot of information isn't free: it's copyrighted and 

stringently protected. One of the big booms in data companies has 

been electronic financial market information: these are now being 

converted from proprietary protocols to Internet standards. Why? 

Well, then Reuters et al don't have to maintain network 

infrastructure. But they are not going to make their information 

free. Law journals, court reports, business info, all big 

moneyspinners. Universities are also moving from keeping hard copies 

of periodicals to getting them on CD-ROM. They also pay large amounts 

of money to access searchable databases of the periodicals.


One of the annoying things about the Web is hitting a paytoll when 

you try and click through to a story - it happens too often to me. 

They tend to be the web versions of deadwood publications, such as 

the Industry Standard, New York Times...


I do accept tho' that at least your Government has a bit more of a 

Clue about freedom of information.


> > Content is still the killer app of the Web, and if people want

> > content, they'll pay for content.

>

>I thknk you are dead wrong about this, having lived through the failed

>for-fee models in the states, e.g the New York Times Euro-edition,

>Slate, gaming networks, AOL's hourly pricing, etc.


Generic content will always have to rely on advertising for revenue - 

but that should generate enough eyeballs to make a profit. What about 

information that only (say) 300 people in the world _need_? Let's 

charge them 10000 bucks a month - make that a small saving on the 

deadwood version, and you've got an Internet business. I think we'll 

see more and more old media publications move to the Web, and maybe 

even cut off traditional methods of reading.


>Lets make it a bet - I will bet that by Christmas 1999, there is a

>smaller proportion of for-fee information on the net than there is

>now. Lets call it dinner anywhere in London, with the proportion is to

>be adjudicated by the list.


*giggle*

I'm not normally a betting man ;)


Dinner *anywhere* would hurt my web developer's pocket too much :) , 

a more modest deal (say 50 quid a head?) and you're on...


especially as I *have* just remembered what the killer app of the 

Internet is ;)


c.

(v cool website btw, Clay :) )

-- 

     "In Turkey, those caught in the act of drinking coffee

        were sown up in a sack and thrown into the sea..."

   http://www.head-newmedia.com      http://www.head-space.org 

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