Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I am wondering...

E-readers (Nook, Kindle) are gaining in popularity. My daughter loves her Kindle. She is a voracious reader and puts away 1 or 2 books a week. So far she has 500+ on hers so this format makes total sense for her and the cost saving has paid for the reader many times over.

If I had the time or interest in reading books like she does I would jump on one. Only drawback for me is I am more into magazines and the Kindle (due to it being black and white only and not lending itself to pictures) is a little thin in that mag department.

So, what about the Nook? It's color after all. Well, they do have a much wider selection of magazines, even carrying about half the ones I get hard copies of and about 4 or 5 more that I would like to subscribe to or did in the past. The reader itself is competitively priced to the Kindle so what's holding me back?

This brings up a question to: why should I spend $149 for a 7" screen then have to subscribe again to a magazine I already get in the mail (for $10 a year...mailed to my doorstep...a paper magazine I can have and hold) and pay them $23.88 for a year...for the same one I get a hard copy of for $10 a year...

LISTEN TO THE WORD COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH: make people pay $24 a year for the paper magazine and only pay $10 a year for the e-magazine and you may actually be able to get some takers. Especially for those who want to feel warm an fuzzy about saving a tree.

And...AND...what about us people who have drunk the Kool-Aid and been faithful subscribers for years (been getting Bicycling mag for 12 years straight now) where's our incentive? I'm paid up for the next 18 months because I took your hard sell 'Go Longer and Save' pitch but I can't switch from paper to electronic? And if I wait a year and a half for it to run out your going to charge me the same or more to get less?

Sorry, seems like a broken model to me. I just don't think that many people will be fooled by this...but then again look at the last presidential election.

(BTW you can check my numbers yourself: go to barnsandnoble.com and look a the e-subscription rate for Field & Stream, then go to fieldandstream.com and click 'subscribe' and see what they charge there)

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