Cost/Benefit Analysis

The NY Times unveiled its paywall scheme yesterday and it’s priced a little higher than I’d like. The cheapest subscription is $15 every 4 weeks for web and smartphone access. I don’t do much reading on my iPhone, so I don’t appreciate having to pay for a combo package. But I do get most of my news from the Times and I generally like the writing and add-on features like the blogs. Perhaps I’m just feeling subscription fatigue since I already subscribe to several magazines and digital services. $15 isn’t a big deal for me, but it will probably be out of reach for people on tight budgets, which only reinforces the Times‘ reputation as the urban yuppie paper of record.