Tag: paywall

I Hit the New York Times Paywall for the First Time Today, Easy to Bypass

I occasionally look to the New York Times for my daily fix of news, but today was the first time since they installed a paywall that I ran up against it (see above).

Luckily, there are ways to circumvent this. According to mashable.com readers:

While testing out the paywall Monday afternoon, Mashable readers Dmitry Beniaminov and Yuri Victor pointed out that it’s breathtakingly easy to subvert the paywall. Readers need only remove “?gwh=numbers” from the URL. They can also clear their browser caches, or switch browsers as soon as they see the subscription prompt. All three of these simple fixes will let them continue reading.

via Mashable.com here

I used the option to manually delete “?gwh=xxxxx” to continue reading on the Times today. A Safari extension that performs this function would be useful.

After a quick Google search, there is another way to bypass the paywall by hitting the “Reader” button in the URL field if you are using Safari 5 [from 9to5mac here]. This will bring up the page behind the paywall notice so that you can read it.

If anyone knows of a Safari extension that addresses this issue, please leave a comment on this post. Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Times Launches Paywall At End of March 2011

The New York Times announced today that they will enable a paywall on March 28, 2011. In the scheme, casual readers who access few than 20 articles per month will be able to do so without charge (is this enforced by cookies or login, how well can this be enforced?). Beyond the 20 article threshold, they will require payment of $15-$35 per month:

Beginning March 28, visitors to NYTimes.com will be able to read 20 articles a month without paying, a limit that company executives said was intended to draw in subscription revenue from the most loyal readers while not driving away the casual visitors who make up the vast majority of the site’s traffic.

Once readers click on their 21st article, they will have the option of buying one of three digital news packages — $15 every four weeks for access to the Web site and a mobile phone app; $20 for Web access and an iPad app; and $35 for an all-access plan.

All subscribers who receive the paper through home delivery will have free and unlimited access across all Times digital platforms except, for now, e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. Subscribers to The International Herald Tribune, which is The Times’s global edition, will also have free digital access.

Is the New York Times and their news coverage really worth that much money?

via The New York Times to Begin Charging for Web Use on March 28 – NYTimes.com.