Digital publishing

Okay, so old media is finally adapting to the new world. New York Times articles no longer show up on Google searches. Full Time articles are no longer available online for free. They are getting paid for their product online. It's a good first step.

But, they are still being pretty dumb about things. Aren't they trying out their own services? Do they really think the things they're doing currently are adequate? They are still 19th century in their thinking. Here's two things they are screwing up:

1. The digital edition isn't paired with the paper edition. I have a Kindle. I have a Time subscription. But I can't get Time on my Kindle without paying for it again (same is true of the Economist). Customers
should get the digital along with the paper, and vice versa at their option. Sure, there's a place for a cheaper, digital only subscription.  So make one.

2. Digital materials aren't associated in any way the way hardcopy stories are. The great graphics they produce in hard copy aren't available online.  I can't go online and read a Time magazine as easily as I can read the paper copy at my own desk - the graphics and pictures are missing, stories aren't easy to set in the same order they are on paper, etc. The paper edition serves as a vital guide to the collection of stories for the edition. Look at Stars and Stripes (stripes.com, digital editions), which produces a pdf
version of the paper every day, searchable visually page by page, with the option to download any set of pages or the whole thing.

On a positive note, their search functions were terrible, but are getting slowly better.