3 ms·

Seriously! Think about how we deal with Android/iPhone apps. I go to Five Below or a Dollar Store and stock up on $2-$3 items that are kind of neat even ventu

by zodPod 10y ago

Seriously! Think about how we deal with Android/iPhone apps. I go to Five Below or a Dollar Store and stock up on $2-$3 items that are kind of neat even venturing into the $5 range occasionally for "premium garbage" yet I get on the Google Play store and see a really awesome app that fills one of my needs but it's $2! How can someone charge $2 for THAT? They only spent a year working on it and it fits my need perfectly but $2 is too much! It's really weird, for sure. I think the hardest part with things like the New York Times is that a lot of us are getting our news from aggregators. I don't give a shit about the New York Times as a company nor any others. I read down through places like Hacker News and click links there. If, occasionally, it's a link to a NYT article, I read it (or don't.. I guess?) but otherwise, if any one of the news sites disappeared off of the face of the globe, I'd be no better or worse off. Also, $8/mon is nothing when it's one news site but if each site begins charging, using a news aggregator is going to be a very expensive proposition...

Benjammer 10y ago
There is something to be said though about being able to see, touch, and feel that $3 tchotchke in the store rather than downloading an app with no idea of it's depth or quality (unless there is a brand reputation already). I think there's something primal about touching/seeing something before buying, and I haven't seen anything digital that even comes close to this sense of grokking the whole thing you're buying in a few seconds/a minute of physical inspection. I'm curious what the difference is (if any) in effect of the GBB pricing model in a store front versus online marketplace.
restalis 10y ago
"if each site begins charging, using a news aggregator is going to be a very expensive proposition" Yes, it could be, but that won't happen unless the act of publishing gets regulated (like in China, where even bloggers have to (or will have to) have publishing licenses) and forced upon an artificial asking price.

by zodPod 10y ago

Benjammer 10y ago

There is something to be said though about being able to see, touch, and feel that $3 tchotchke in the store rather than downloading an app with no idea of it's depth or quality (unless there is a brand reputation already). I think there's something primal about touching/seeing something before buying, and I haven't seen anything digital that even comes close to this sense of grokking the whole thing you're buying in a few seconds/a minute of physical inspection. I'm curious what the difference is (if any) in effect of the GBB pricing model in a store front versus online marketplace.

restalis 10y ago

"if each site begins charging, using a news aggregator is going to be a very expensive proposition" Yes, it could be, but that won't happen unless the act of publishing gets regulated (like in China, where even bloggers have to (or will have to) have publishing licenses) and forced upon an artificial asking price.