The Online-only Idea is Definitely Spreading...

It's doubtful. Right now the newsprint gets caught in the Internet tubes. But they are working on it.

 

Ba-dum-bump. (Thank you, we'll be here all week.)

I wish the Rocky had been given a shot a it. I don't know if the PI can succeed. Sadly, I think we're about to find out if one can.

 

I read an idea not to long ago that I think has merit.

Instead of charging per month or for eight weeks like we always have, why not try an iTunes-like model in which you pay per story. The article I saw suggested a nickel per story or a dime for a specific day's news or a few bucks for a month. The idea is to capture those impulse buyers.

This would require proprietary software similar to PayPal — PayPal wouldn't be a cost effective solution to charging a nick or dime since it's surcharges are outrageous — but it seemed reasonable to me.

 

Well, as you mentioned, the biggest problem is that no widely-used system is cost effective for micropayment.

If you develop your own proprietary system, you aren't going to find many users interested in signing up. Too much hassle.