That's why batching needs to be used, so all those little 5-10c transactions get accumulated and sent as one larger one. Then once a month or when you've read $5-10 worth of articles you'll be charged. This usually means that there will be one, or a handful of, providers so that you won't have an outstanding tab or credit at too many places.

So there we get back to a subscription magazine model. It's easier mentally to have one, or a few, subscriptions charging a fixed amount per month to read content. Unfortunately even if you do pay $5-$10 per month for a subscription, the publication can make more money from you by selling ads in the publication.

Maybe. I still have to decide at the point of download whether I want to pay, albeit a small amount, for the article in question. I don't say it can't work. For a long time, it's how we paid for telephone service. And it works for music/movies, although those goods each have their own unique characteristics--even if subscriptions are becoming more popular. (Music you reuse; the movie watching experience is something of a commitment.)

Of course, subscriptions have their own issues especially if the content sources are fragmented.

That's practically what we do by using a wallet -- it's basically batching of payments (with less risk for us, asking for an upfront payment after a user has spent the $2,50 he gets for free when he signs up).