"Premium" service won't work (was: Question for Clay and others)

[Robert S. Thau]

Russell Turpin writes:
 > I'd be happy to pay $40 a year to subsidize my favorite Web
 > publications. But not $10 four times. In other words, it's
 > the hassle, not the money. 

This argument is awfully general --- it applies not only to the
premium model, a la Salon, but also pure for-pay models, like the Wall
Street Journal's, which is a few years old now.  (I dimly remember
reading that it was in the black, and that back when "internet
business model" was a running joke --- but I can't cite a source).

For that matter, it would seem to argue that print subscriptions are
doomed, in the long run, since subscribing to those is even more of a
hassle... 

rst