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Looks to me like the Tico Times is on its last legs, it gets thinner and thinner each week and someone told me they’re going non-profit, is that true?
If they can’t make enough money to survive as a for-profit business, who and why would anyone support them as a non-profit?
Has that worked for other newspapers?
I read the Tico Times online but I would never dream of paying money for it.
What do you think?
[quote=”frankburns”]Looks to me like the Tico Times is on its last legs, it gets thinner and thinner each week and someone told me they’re going non-profit, is that true?
If they can’t make enough money to survive as a for-profit business, who and why would anyone support them as a non-profit?
Has that worked for other newspapers?
I read the Tico Times online but I would never dream of paying money for it.
What do you think?[/quote]
dear frank,
for those of us who live in costa rica it has always been a privilege to purchase a tico times each friday.
the internet is my main source of information but nothing beats having a news paper in your hands. the smell of the paper, the printers ink on your hands.
yep, although these are the good old days, i do have warm thoughts of delivering papers as a kid and reading the evening edition with my parents.
thanks,
bobI also prefer to hold a real book or newspaper in my hands rather than reading online.
Having said that, one of our very special VIP Members is sending me a Kindle as a gift and I LOVE the idea of having a thousand books in my hand instead of 6 large boxes of books in my bodega and a dozen bookcases in my apartment, and those are just the books I’ve bought in the last 10 years …
Many printed newspapers are dying and it’s difficult to disagree with your statement about the Tico Times.
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to ‘donate’ to a newspaper and certainly have never considered it a “privilege” to buy the Tico Times.
http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/ has some interesting information…
Scott
[quote=”Scott”]I also prefer to hold a real book or newspaper in my hands rather than reading online.
Having said that, one of our very special VIP Members is sending me a Kindle as a gift and I LOVE the idea of having a thousand books in my hand instead of 6 large boxes of books in my bodega and a dozen bookcases in my apartment, and those are just the books I’ve bought in the last 10 years …
Many printed newspapers are dying and it’s difficult to disagree with your statement about the Tico Times.
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to ‘donate’ to a newspaper and certainly have never considered it a “privilege” to buy the Tico Times.
http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/ has some interesting information…
Scott[/quote]
Scott,
I’ve had my Kindle for about six months now. It’s great and I’m certain you’ll enjoy it too. Although I buy a few new books from Amazon, most of what I read is totally free – classics and other public domain books. If you need advice on searching for free Kindle books let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction.
We, too, have gone the e-book route only we took the iPad approach. Frankly, it’s wonderful!
You can have a library of books right at your fingertips. You can buy books that aren’t free and get virtually instantaneous delivery at absolutely no cost. You can customize the interface by selecting the style and size of type, the brightness of the screen, etc. And either a Kindle or an iPad weighs about as much as a hardbound book.
If you’re certain that all you want is an e-reader, the Kindle makes compelling good sense. The prices have come down and the features have improved significantly.
On the other hand, if you think you might want more out of your portable device than just a reader, then the iPad is your best bet. There are many thousands of apps for it — some free and others at minimal cost. If you want to browse the Internet and keep up on the WeLoveCostaRica forum, if you want to check the weather, if you want to play games, if you want to track your diet and exercise, if you want to download music and movies, if . . ., if . . ., if . . ., then the iPad is the device of choice.
In August, we each bought a 64gb “wi-fi only” iPad. The SIM chip used in Costa Rica isn’t compatible with the iPad’s socket, so there’s no advantage to paying for the wi-fi/3G version. What we’ve learned is that we could never use the 64gb storage capacity. 32gb or even 16gb would have been plenty, and we’ve downloaded a bunch of stuff.
[quote=”frankburns”]
non profit…
Has that worked for other newspapers?I read the Tico Times online but I would never dream of paying money for it.
What do you think?[/quote]
There are only a couple not-for-profit newspapers in the U.S. simply because newspapers were a fantastic business (now they are just very good – not talking about top 50 major markets here, but rather “community” newspapers.)The newspapers that went not-for-profit did it for estate tax evasion rather than public support.
And of course, newspapers make their 80% of revenue from ads, not from subscriptions.
Whether or not you think paying $5 a month to get the electronic version is a personal value decision. If you think it has value, buy it. If not, don’t.
Personally, I think having a print newspaper is an important part of any community. Especially where the community at large is not well connected to the web.
Re: eReaders… the NookColor kicks butt. In January they will be offering an upgrade that will run Android, thus making the NookColor more like a tablet computer.
We gave ipads to the office employees this year during our holiday dinner a few weeks ago. I have seen ours a handful of times since then:?
They are great to take to bed and read, surf or e-mail.
This message was sent from an iPad.Both the iPad and iPhone 4 use the micro sim that ICE doesn’t provide. But you can carefully cut down a regular SIM to fit these devices. Just because ice is behind the time doesn’t mean you have to be. 😉
Yeah, I’ve read something elsewhere about “adapting” ICE’s SIM to the iPad. What’s not clear is what the great advantage might be. Again, what I’ve heard is that ICE’s 3G data service is not terribly satisfying and that, given an alternative, one would take it.
In the U.S., the 3G version of the iPad costs about $130 more at each price level than the wi-fi only one. Here it’s bound to be more. I just wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze, but maybe it is.
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