I received some iTunes vouchers for my Birthday and spent them rather quickly. After consuming a couple of silly iPad games, a film and a couple of useful apps I has £10 left burning a virtual hold in my virtual wallet. Despite the £9.99 price tag for 28 days access I relented and decided to try The Times digital edition. What a good move that was!
I had previously criticised the pricing structure, but a quick calculation means that I am paying roughly 30 pence per issue which compares quite well to the paper edition. There are numerous incidental advantages to buying a daily newspaper this way; no recycling, no trip to the shop to buy one and the convenience of having it available when I need it (arguably a paper newspaper is just, if not more, convenient though).
It would be easy to talk about the clever design and the way in which the app mimics a newspaper so closely and these are fundamental factors in making the experience worthwhile, but ultimately the fact that I am consuming much more of each issue than I ever have with paper newspapers is telling. It feels like a newspaper, it really does, and this surprised me more than any other aspect of my purchase.
It is irrelevant that the writing is so good; if you like a newspaper, even the Daily Mail (shudders!), the fact fact that you can consume it in this way so easily highlights the potential for this medium. Many, like me, will naturally be sceptical about reading newspapers this way and The Times would surely benefit from letting people buy one issue to see what it is all about as a taster, but I can say with hand on heart that the experience has been great so far.
It is the first product that has let me into the world of digital newspapers and not made me feel like I am making a huge adjustment. The main barrier is that some other products are not so smart and try to do too much. If we could see a more standardised method in the digital newspaper world, just as we do with paper newspapers, the medium will fly.
The fact that I am highly likely to renew my subscription says a lot because I never buy newspapers, but this app has opened my eyes to the format and crucially the content within. I would likely have not discovered The Times without it.
I also subscribe to the WSJ and I am also very pleased. I would renew my subscriptionif the Times included The Sunday Times as well.
I’ve taken an alternative route of using PressReader from time to time. They’ll allow you to buy individual issues as well as subscriptions, they also have multiple different newspapers. I was surprised by how good it is.