RIP TimesSelect. After being sent cease and desist letters from the NYTimes legal offices last year because we wrote a post making fun of the concept and used the logo at left, it seems they now agree. Yesterday TimesSelect was officially abandoned. We didn't read much of that stuff anyway, but were glad they've eased up. Check out Jeff Jarvis' excellent obit.
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Comments (8)
I used TimesSelect when I left the country two years ago. It was a great way to keep in touch. The Times editorialists are first rate and the $49.95 was nothing to complain about.
I'm personally not saddened by its demise. As a fan of the Times, I'm also heartened that the reason they did so was a smart business choice, not a defeat. Because they can make more money selling online ads than subscriptions, it just made sense to make everything as available to as many eyes as possible.
I resisted and did without Maureen Dowd for a while but I'm glad I did- was happy to hear NYTimes.com did away with their subscription service
Yay!!!
About time!
I remember a Froomkin 'net discussion betting how long they would last (not if, but when). The Times was so dumb to do this to their columnists.
as a subscriber to the paper, I got the online "select" for free.
I don't understand the "we didn't read much of that stuff anyway" comment. Really? People don't read the OpEd pages? Maureen Dowd drives me nuts, but I really look forward to that part of my morning. Having the New York Times as my hometown paper is one of the better things about living in NYC.
I recently saw the CEO of Fairfax Media (a large Australian media company) speak about news in the internet age. He said that only 20% of revenue from newspapers comes from subscriptions. The other 80% comes from advertising. So making the switch to "free" online content isn't a drastic change in the revenue structure where 100% of revenue comes from advertising.
As an avid NYT reader and fan of the Op Eds, I was put off by the pay to view system and did not pay to subscribe. But select content was always posted elsewhere and could be tracked down via a Technorati search.
Cheers to the NYT for providing quality (easily accessible) journalism!
I'm very happy that Times Select is gone. Now I can catch up on Maureen Dowd and Thomas Freidman.
The Times said that the reason they stopped Times Select is that it served it's purpose which was to get more subscriptions. I wonder if that's really the reason.
Hey anne, I did not see that in the NYTimes piece or the Jeff Jarvis piece. Did you read that somewhere else?