New York Times

I read the New York Times almost daily with my subsription to the New York Times Reader App. I used to use the stand-alone app which I like better than the Web browser version. That app downloaded the daily paper so you read it off-line without having to reload anything else. I also had addidtional features.

But they dropped it for the Web browser version which is just the newspapers for the same subscription price. Less for the same money, the typical thing companies are doing now, smaller products for the same cost so you don't notice it costs you more to buy the same amount you did before.

And now the New York Times is introducing its Premier plan with any digital or print subscription. Granted it offers some cool stuff, which for me isn't worth the extra price of the subscription, for now anyway. But that's not my gripe here.

My gripe is that they offer the Premier service for $6.25 more per month on top of my $20 (taxes added) digital subscription, and while it comes with 4 weeks free service, it's not the whole suite of products in the service.

It's a few basic products for the trial period after which your subscription reverts to the full service of the full digital package, for $45 per month. Yeah, you can't get the $26 subscription, only the normal $20 subscription service or the $45 premier service.

I can't argue newspapers need to reinvent themselves and several are doing a good job of it to stay in business and even profitable. Our local papers, the Tacoma News Tribune, which I also read weekly with the Seattle Times (Sunday editions), is thriving through other means than creating a lot of pay for services.

I just don't see it with the New York Times Premier service. If you're into the news and want the features they offer, it's likely a good service, but if you're just a daily reader, it's not worth it to be conned into something free, or less than something free, for more than double the price later.