(2011-03-17) Nytimes Paywall Launches

The Ny Times finally launched their Metered Pay Wall. On NYTimes.com, you can view 20 articles each month at no charge (including slide shows, videos and other features). After 20 articles, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber, with full access to our site... Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles. Priced at $195/yr (plus extras for special Fat Client apps).

Dave Winer thinks they should have offered some new user-benefit in return. I'd like to hear something that makes me believe they are excited about the future news, and are translating that excitement into thoughtful new products.

They really spent $40 million developing this? Really?