Do you pay a subscription for any websites?

[Barrister]

More and more websites are going to a for-pay subscription model, saying that advertising rates just don't pay the bills.  Many might have a free trial, or allow you # number of articles free per month, but fundamentally you need to pay to have full access.  Companies like the New York Times or Washington Post have been on this model for awhile, but I was reminded of this when I noticed that Slate went to a subscription model recently (when by immediate reaction was - who would pay for Slate?).

Are there are websites that people are paying for?  Are they worthwhile?  Any that aren't worthwhile?

[merithyn]

I have a subscription for the New York Times and the Washington Post. Oh, and Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc.

[Barrister]

I have a subscription for the New York Times and the Washington Post. Oh, and Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc.

While I can't control where the conversation goes, I was more interested in any print subscription, since those had usually been free on the internet, and only in the last few years has the subscription model been tried.

[Tamas]

The Economist. I have both the digital and paper version as they are the same price IIRC.

[Barrister]

How much, and is it worth it?

[crazy canuck]

NYTimes, Globe and Mail and Economist. I also pay a subscription for the Guardian which is currently free.

@ BB the big advantage to the Economist is by the time the paper copy comes to this part of the world it is almost a week out of date - with the electronic version you can read it hot off the electronic presses.

[Barrister]

So the only one I pay for is The Athletic.  I found a sale and paid for one year for $20 or $25 I think.

Obviously I wouldn't recommend paying for a sports-based website right now, but pre-pandemic it was pretty good.  It has some national coverage, but most of it's content is hyper-local, where it has reporters on the ground in various cities that cover only their own specific teams.  And in that coverage it can't be beat.



I would like to pick up a national news page or two, but not sure which would be good, and certainly can't pay for a whole bunch of them.

[Sheilbh]

The Athletic and London Review of Books (though I get paper copies too). Through work the FT and some trade press.

[celedhring]

New York Times. I also got subs to FT and Bloomberg through work, but I wouldn't sub to them on my own.

I've been entertaining The Athletic for some time, might go for it once there's some actual sport.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Just Washington Post. I also get the physical Sunday paper.

[Barrister]

New York Times. I also got subs to FT and Bloomberg through work, but I wouldn't sub to them on my own.

I've been entertaining The Athletic for some time, might go for it once there's some actual sport.

I just checked - supposedly they were going to start covering La Liga as of this month!

Not sure what kind of coverage there would be there (in particular since it is an english-language website), but I think it's coverage of the Premier League is top notch).

[Grey Fox]

I used to have a sub to the Athletic but I've let it lapse since it's much cheaper to do that & be a new subscriber than renew.

I have no other subscription.

@BB Athletic has french coverage for Montreal. Pretty awesome of them.

[Oexmelin]

I get WaPo, NYT, LRB, NYRB, LARB, The Atlantic, the New Yorker through the University. I haven't decided yet which one I will drop once I need to pay for them myself.

I pay for Le Devoir (a Quebec newspaper), and a website, Pan M 360, which is dedicated to music critique, because the place dedicated to it in print (or e-version of print) has dwindled dramatically.

[celedhring]

New York Times. I also got subs to FT and Bloomberg through work, but I wouldn't sub to them on my own.

I've been entertaining The Athletic for some time, might go for it once there's some actual sport.

I just checked - supposedly they were going to start covering La Liga as of this month!

Not sure what kind of coverage there would be there (in particular since it is an english-language website), but I think it's coverage of the Premier League is top notch).

I don't need coverage of La Liga, there's plenty of that over here 

I'm looking for good, non click-baity, coverage of yank sports. Grantland used to scratch that itch, but The Ringer isn't quite there.

[Barrister]

New York Times. I also got subs to FT and Bloomberg through work, but I wouldn't sub to them on my own.

I've been entertaining The Athletic for some time, might go for it once there's some actual sport.

I just checked - supposedly they were going to start covering La Liga as of this month!

Not sure what kind of coverage there would be there (in particular since it is an english-language website), but I think it's coverage of the Premier League is top notch).

I don't need coverage of La Liga, there's plenty of that over here 

I'm looking for good, non click-baity, coverage of yank sports. Grantland used to scratch that itch, but The Ringer isn't quite there.

It's not really the place for just national-level, day-to-day scores and whatnot.  If you're looking for that I think just ESPN would be your best bet.

But if you want super-indepth coverage of specific teams it's wonderful.