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A comment on Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print. Parent comment

Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by CobrastanJorji on Friday March 17, 2023 @01:58AM (#35193695)
Amazon doesn't want you to have a subscription to the New York Times. Amazon wants you to have a subscription to Amazon Unlimited, which would include access to the New York Times. Amazon would then pay the New York Times and all other periodicals an amount that Amazon thinks is fair based on how many people are reading their articles, like Amazon Unlimited books.

This is very bad for big periodicals with many subscribers. Under the current model, they get a predictable amount of income and are motivated by keeping the bar high for their content, lest they lose subscribers. Under the new model, their income is entirely based on how many people pick up that issue and read it, which makes it very hard to budget. It also likely means an inevitable slide into "politician SLAMMED other politican, and you'll NEVER BELIEVE what happened next" headlines, since extra clicks are very directly your periodical's source of income.

This is very good news for Amazon because it gives them far more bargaining power against publishers. Right now, if The New York Times decides that Amazon's terms favor Amazon too strongly, the Times walks, and Amazon doesn't get any more money from Times subscribers. Under this system, if the Times walks because Amazon terms favor Amazon too strongly, Amazon keeps the subscribers.

This is moderately good news for customers who read a bunch of stuff on Amazon Unlimited. You now get to read whatever you like for probably around the same cost, and the stuff you naturally choose to read will end up getting a bit of money from it. Yay.

This is probably moderately good news for niche, popcorn periodicals. If you have a "Werewolf Romance Weekly Short Fiction" magazine or "DIY Productivity Tip Of the Week" newsletter, you'll quite possibly make way more money by attracting idly browsing Amazon Unlimited customers than you would have been able to if you had needed to convince people to subscribe to your service.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by ako on Friday March 17, 2023 @02:21AM (#35193848)
At the same time, having to subscribe to specific periodical keeps me from doing it all. I see the these subscribe pop-ups every time I visit a newspaper, at least 5 different newspapers per day. It is just not affordable to have 5 subscriptions, so I end up subscribing to none.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by Ma8ee on Friday March 17, 2023 @03:17AM (#35194221)
I pay something like €5 to The Guardian and $2 to NYT (which I read very occasionally) every months. And then another €15 to a Swedish newspaper. That is very cheap to support independent journalism.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by bentlegen on Friday March 17, 2023 @03:26AM (#35194288)
Wow, $2 is a good deal. I feel I paid that little to start, but now NYT charges me $20 CAD a month. I regularly debate whether it’s worth it or not, and it definitely stops me from subscribing to other publications.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by TedDoesntTalk on Friday March 17, 2023 @03:33AM (#35194325)
Good luck canceling that subscription.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by Ma8ee on Friday March 17, 2023 @08:03AM (#35195915)
They have made it easier. It used to be that you had to call, but now you can do it on the web.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by eitally on Friday March 17, 2023 @09:12AM (#35196632)
They have made it easier [by law] for subscribers [in California].
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by torstenvl on Friday March 17, 2023 @09:28AM (#35196806)
I had nine months of chargebacks before I finally got NYT to stop charging me.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by rchaud on Friday March 17, 2023 @10:23AM (#35197503)
Paypal has a one-click cancel option for any recurring payment.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by drtz on Friday March 17, 2023 @10:38AM (#35197686)
This really isn't a big deal if you use credit card policy to your advantage.

When I canceled a subscription to a local paper (Dallas Morning News), their policy said I had to call to cancel. Instead, I sent an email informing them I was rescinding authorization to charge my credit card.

They initially responded stating that I had to call to cancel my subscription. One more email reminding them that charging my card without authorization would be credit card fraud turned out to be enough to have the phone call requirement dropped.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by Ma8ee on Friday March 17, 2023 @08:06AM (#35195948)
They always increase the price after a year, and I go through the cancelling forms in their website until they offer me the lower price again. I guess that they know how little I actually use the subscription, so it’s no point in trying to get more money from me.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by favaq on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:27AM (#35194917)
I hope your calling The Guardian and especially the CIA... I mean the NYT "independent journalism" is an elaborate joke.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by Ma8ee on Friday March 17, 2023 @08:07AM (#35195951)
Why do you think so?
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by chiefalchemist on Friday March 17, 2023 @09:38AM (#35196905)
Not the original commentor.

As a longer time and now former NYT reader, it has definitely fallen off. It's abandoned balance and objectivity for trite left-leaning talking points. The breakup came when I realized I could not longer trust it to inform me to the depth and breadth I needed.

At this point, it's an average news publication - notice I didn't say journalism - riding on the fumes of its history. It's not bad. But every since the internet its become more and more generic.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by JPws_Prntr_Fngr on Friday March 17, 2023 @10:14AM (#35197374)
Because publications like the NYT depend on access for their "journalism" [0]. Independent/investigative journalism requires an adversarial relationship to power, and looks more like [1]. In past decades, the establishment was occasionally forced to grapple with this [2] [3] but at this point the public discussion is so captured, it's no longer necessary.

Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent lays it out in depth.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/29/corres... [1] https://wikileaks.org/opcw-douma/releases/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee [3] https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/27/archives/cia-established-...

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by chimprich on Sunday March 19, 2023 @11:11PM (#35226799)
The Guardian is one of the best examples of independent journalism. It's owned by the Scott Trust. It was set up by the original owner in the 30s to ensure editorial independence. People do sometimes confuse "editorial independence" with "taking an editorial line I personally disagree with", however.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by gibolt on Friday March 17, 2023 @03:38AM (#35194349)
Having the option to do either seems like the better approach for a consumer.

Worded differently, removing one of two options is worse for the consumer.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by fastball on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:58AM (#35195080)
But that's not the current reality, as basically no newspapers are on Kindle Unlimited.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by AdamN on Friday March 17, 2023 @06:22AM (#35195201)
Or even worse is Apple News where it's pieces of major newspapers like the WSJ and then dumbed down newspapers like USA Today and nothing of the caliber of Financial Times.

What I want is an app/site that has all the news, strong blocklists so I can get rid of junk (USA Today), stuff I'm just not interested in (Wrestling Today if such a thing exists), and get more stuff that I didn't know existed (Upper Siberian Mining Monthly :-))!

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by janfoeh on Friday March 17, 2023 @07:54AM (#35195825)
https://www.pressreader.com might be worth a look. I only have limited access through my German library card, but what I've seen so far I liked.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by unsui on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:19PM (#35203048)
Whoa.

Where has this been all my life?

Reasonable price, great selection of periodicals and newspapers.

Definite value.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by MandieD on Friday March 17, 2023 @07:23PM (#35204208)
None of the libraries I’m currently a member of has it, but the next city over does, so I’ll see if I can join that library - thanks for pointing this out!
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by mongol on Sunday March 19, 2023 @04:02AM (#35216972)
I like the reading experience of it using its app. It combines the physical and "digital" views well.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by flakeoil on Friday March 17, 2023 @06:12AM (#35195145)
You could try readly.com. It's around 12 USD/month for a huge amount of magazines and news papers.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by rchaud on Friday March 17, 2023 @10:25AM (#35197535)
These aggregators usually do not include 100% of the papers's content.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by flakeoil on Monday March 20, 2023 @08:54AM (#35230778)
The magazines you can read on Readly are the full prints at least. Like a pdf-version of the hard copy magazine. I tried it for a couple of months and I did not see any difference or pages missing.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by tbran on Friday March 17, 2023 @08:03AM (#35195913)
Just pick one to support. You can still visit all 5.

Preferably a local paper.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by PradeetPatel on Friday March 17, 2023 @02:07AM (#35193748)
Thank you for the thoughtful explanation. I never thought about it from that angle before, that is such a powerful move from Amazon that I believe most of us can learn something from.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by kqr on Friday March 17, 2023 @02:23AM (#35193857)
It's also known as "commoditise your complement": https://gwern.net/complement
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by brutusurp on Friday March 17, 2023 @03:45AM (#35194381)
Except customers will just leave Amazon. Like they are doing with Music, and Video, and Prime. This move disadvantages everyone except Amazon. It should be investigated by SEC.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by DharmaPolice on Friday March 17, 2023 @07:24AM (#35195562)
If customers leave Amazon surely that disadvantages Amazon too?
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by ohgodplsno on Friday March 17, 2023 @04:34AM (#35194624)
"I'm sure we could learn something from how Amazon contributes to the destruction of something already both so fragile and crucial, the press" isn't exactly a good look, but go ahead.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by andrepd on Friday March 17, 2023 @07:10AM (#35195475)
> that is such a powerful move from Amazon that I believe most of us can learn something from.

I don't think that was the intended message here.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by Espressosaurus on Friday March 17, 2023 @02:08AM (#35193754)
I've seen how they've made it harder and harder to download your entire music collection, as well as how they're pushing their music streaming.

At this point I'm just waiting for the same thing to happen to their ala cart music service, and it's very disappointing.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by ikari_pl on Friday March 17, 2023 @03:55AM (#35194429)
Amazon shuts down subscriptions for me while saying Kindle Unlimited is not available in my country.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by greyman on Friday March 17, 2023 @04:55AM (#35194731)
I remember, that in Slovakia we had something like an "Amazon Unlimited", it was called Piano, but it ultimately didn't work. The problem was, that for large publishers it was not profitable, and the system more or less favoured small publishers. But after a few largest publishers left the platform, the whole offering was weak and not worth it.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by snickerbockers on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:06AM (#35194786)
So basically they're transitioning to the "extinguish" phase of their business model?
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by concordDance on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:13AM (#35194830)
The headline based selection process you describe has been going on for over a decade now. And yes, the damage has been bad.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by andyjohnson0 on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:20AM (#35194885)
> Amazon would then pay the New York Times and all other periodicals an amount that Amazon thinks is fair based on how many people are reading their articles

Presumably this would only happen after the NYT has first paid Amazon for access to the platform.

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by atchoo on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:42AM (#35194992)
If that's the strategy, it's weird that not even WaPo (a Bezos property) is on Kindle Unlimited when announcing sun-setting newspaper subscriptions.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by CatWChainsaw on Friday March 17, 2023 @05:50AM (#35195030)
Is Amazon Unlimited a different product than Kindle Unlimited?
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by emsy on Friday March 17, 2023 @06:17AM (#35195169)
In other words they’re begging to be regulated.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by SentientAtom on Friday March 17, 2023 @08:28AM (#35196184)
Horrific to see another business model get put on rails resulting in a lowering of quality. Reminds me of MSN firing their news team and having AI journalists write all the articles. Now you get large walls of text with no overall message that often times are devoid of any conclusions.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by tootie on Friday March 17, 2023 @09:14AM (#35196649)
Aside from the NY Times and maybe Conde Nast this will be Amazon squeezing blood from a stone. Most publishers are barely treading water right now and are getting killed by off-platform news consumption.
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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by jrochkind1 on Friday March 17, 2023 @09:15AM (#35196664)
> Amazon wants you to have a subscription to Amazon Unlimited, which would include access to the New York Times. Amazon would then pay the New York Times and all other periodicals an amount that Amazon thinks is fair based on how many people are reading their articles, like Amazon Unlimited books.

The "spotify model".

It's pretty bad for content creators. It is great for the distribution platform in the middle position. I think it's arguably pretty good for consumers, at least initially -- but generally the point is locking in consumers to eventually squeeze them, and I don't think it's great for _society_, which of course effects "consumers".

Giblin and Doctorow's _Chokepoint Capitalism_ is worth checking out. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710957/chokepoint-c...

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Re:Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kin... by ben7799 on Friday March 17, 2023 @11:41AM (#35198522)
The NYT has held their quality standards up pretty well, but most of the newspaper industry had already raced all the way to the bottom by the time Amazon ever launched the Kindle newsstand.

That ship basically sailed away a long time ago. Newspapers gave everything away for free, raced the content to the bottom, and then after nearly 20 years of that finally realized it didn't work.

The content in your online newspaper needs to be very, very good if you want $20-30/month to read it versus the aggregated news services wanting $9.99/month to read news from a wide swath of sources. NYT is good, but it's terrible at replacing your local news sources.

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