I like the idea of micropayments. I also like the idea of the user being able to choose to make a micropayment, and choose the size of that payment, for some piece of content.

IMO, letting the reader/user reward individual pieces is much more useful feedback than website-access payments. A site which is mostly crap could then discover what is drawing people, and could reform its editorial choices intelligently.

Subscriptions, on the other hand, reward the status quo.