Times Select going free? Is Times Reader content next?

Rumors by the New York Post indicate that the New York Times is about to let their premium web content go free: instead of paying $7.95 a month for access to archives, Op-Ed pieces and more, the Times Select information would be freely available. High-five if it happens, I say: I can't stand clicking a link to the NYT (or WSJ, for that matter) only be blocked by a nicely worded "you have to pay to play" message.

This got me thinking about the Times Reader application which the NYT collaborated on with Microsoft last year. It's such an enjoyable mobile reading experience across several of my devices, that I'm hoping it follows in the footsteps and goes free. Currently, you either pay $14.95 a month for the content or get it free as part of your NYT home subscription. Web content is by and large ad-supported, so here's hoping the NYT frees up the Times Reader and offsets costs through the ads that are dynamically resized in the software. Either that, or offer an ad-free version for a monthly fee.

Comments

[Maverick]

"Pay to play" is OK with mobile tech (wrote James on July 20th), but it is not OK with premium content? :P