October 24th, 2011 / 4:55 pm
 Technology

I WANT TO PAY A LOT FOR PREMIUM DIGITAL CONTENT

let me pay for premium online content.

i tried to get a digital-only subscription to the new yorker. but it doesn’t exist. i want it in my car service when i leave my advertising agency at 10:30 pm. i am always busy. i need speed and i desire information. i want to have access to that content in a fluid way.

i would pay 100 dollars a year for a digital subscription to the new yorker. 30 dollars more than the physical paper subscription price.

i want to read a digital version of vanity fair on my phone and not have to throw away a physical magazine. when i am in the hamptons, i want this very much.

let me pay.

i don’t read the ny times but i might get a digital subscription just to prove this point. it costs 180 dollars/year for the site and an iphone app. i could also get the WSJ (which i do read). it’s only 120 for the same digital content model. more interesting than the times, but less fun than the new yorker, probably.

vanity fair would be nice, as i have said (the print version is only $20/year, and i would pay three times that for a digital version with archive access) – alas they only offer ipad digital, not iphone digital. i guess advertisers are worried about the small screen format? fair enough.

how much does it cost to get digital-only on demand HBO?

obviously, such a thing does not exist. such a thing would be the death of a certain era of media control and distribution. such a thing would be hugely profitable and make hbo the leaders in all of hi-end content production and consumption, not just the categories of drama, comedy, and adult content. a vice-hbo partnership could literally destroy the current media model. With a subscription price of say… 25.00 dollars a month.

this is a case of the market wanting something very badly, and not getting it. it is a case of corrupted capital, an instance of freedom and desire being thwarted by control and incompetence. adam smith’s invisible hand – jacking itself off and then taking a nap.

let’s cut the shit. let’s live better, with less wasted time and wasted resources. how we consume content is saying something about how we do everything else.

ok this has been my first html giant ‘the written commodity’ column, i guess.

thanks,

erik

at my massive wooden desk in midtown manhattan

* * *

Erik Stinson is the author of AND THEN I DISAPPEARED AGAIN and FUTURISM, among other books. He has written poetry, articles and essays for THOUGHT CATALOG, POOL and THE ATLANTIC. He edits the men’s magazine SENSE EUROPA. Erik serves the free market as a copywriter at an ad agency in New York City, where he lives alone.

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22 Comments

  1. October 24th, 2011 / 5:06 pm Daniel Lichtenberg—

      If you have a paper subscription to the New Yorker, you get full online content access for free.

  2. October 24th, 2011 / 5:17 pm Anonymous—

      “HBO Go” pretty sure thats a thing.

  3. October 24th, 2011 / 5:22 pm Erik Stinson—
  4. October 24th, 2011 / 5:26 pm lea—

      What? 

      (in case this isn’t just trolling, new yorker digital only access is about $60/year through archives.newyorker.com ) 

  5. October 24th, 2011 / 5:37 pm Anonymous—

      im not sure i understand anything 

  6. October 24th, 2011 / 5:39 pm Darby Larson—

      also, a nyr subscription thru kindle is only 2.99$ a month.

      i think there’s a bit of tongue in cheek with this post though.

      here’s a tongue in cheek emoticon i just made up:  (U)

      have a good shower! -d

  7. October 24th, 2011 / 5:53 pm Roxane—

      I’m pretty sure you can subscribe to the New Yorker’s digital only subscription. Same with Vanity Fair and most magazines if you use iProducts via News Stand.

  8. October 24th, 2011 / 6:10 pm c2k—

      Oh brother.

  9. October 24th, 2011 / 6:12 pm Anonymous—

      i feel empty 

  10. October 24th, 2011 / 6:38 pm Erik Stinson—

      it’s not trolling. i didn’t see that option anywhere, using google. 

      thank you for finding it. and it seems like they don’t offer an iphone app, i guess that’s a big deal for me.

      this is like some like… archival bullshit. i want content on demand. the interface looks really academic. 

  11. October 24th, 2011 / 6:39 pm Erik Stinson—

      dope. i still need to upgrade to iOS5. will probably use this. 

  12. October 24th, 2011 / 7:09 pm lea—

      It’s online access to the current issue and to the archives. No paper subscription. The interface is not the greatest. There is no iPhone app. Why do you want to read the New Yorker? You don’t seem like someone who would want to read it. 

  13. October 24th, 2011 / 8:36 pm postitbreakup—

      i feel empty, but reading all those prices, i also feel broke

  14. October 24th, 2011 / 10:36 pm Ohcomeon—

      You are not as good at being jon leon as jon leon is, just stop

  15. October 25th, 2011 / 12:34 am Michael Manning—

      i like this Erik.

      -Michael 

  16. October 25th, 2011 / 1:18 am Karen Wood Hepner—

      This is great. The whole system is jacked and I want to see more people calling cable companies, etc., out on this shit.

      By the way, HBO GO is only available if you already subscribe to HBO through a cable subscription. We still have a long way to go. 

  17. October 25th, 2011 / 10:03 am Erik Stinson—

      jon and i are friends and i do owe him a great deal artistically

  18. October 25th, 2011 / 12:19 pm BoomersMustDie—

      Just get your intern to scan it, jeez

  19. October 25th, 2011 / 5:27 pm Matt Tyler—

      i want ur problems + ur wants, bro.

  20. October 25th, 2011 / 9:11 pm JC—

      This is possibly the most obnoxious thing I’ve read since a Daily Mail article last month.

  21. October 25th, 2011 / 9:30 pm Andrew—

      I want all these publications to clearly and definitively switch to digital subscription access, so that someone can find ways to make them all available to me through mediafire or something.  maybe they already are, i should check.

  22. October 31st, 2011 / 3:33 pm Erik Stinson—

      UPDATE: 

      I have purchased NY Times Online+iPhone app subscription. It will cost me 180 dollars/year. I did it only to prove this point.