Are We Ready to Play With Pay?

摘要

This year, the question is being bellowed from every podium, in every digital media conference panel, in reams of articles, and in exabytes of online commentary. Will users finally start paying for their online content when so many alternatives crowd a search-driven, user-generated, all-you-can-eat buffet of free? It's time to pay up, sometimes angry and struggling media moguls have proclaimed. News Corp., The New York Times Co., and many newspapers and magazines are planning some kind of new or tighter pay model in the coming year. Consumers, you are officially on notice: Journalism costs money, and the current online advertising economy doesn't even come close to supporting big media in the lifestyle to which it has become accustomed.