I was a math, science, and computer geek in high school, and while I also took my AP history and AP lit classes, I certainly wasn’t all that connected to the world around me. That is, I rarely followed the news, to the point where most of what got filtered into my head was via word of mouth. I then became a math major in college, which, again, has little to do with current events.
At this point I can’t say that I’m all that much more advanced. I do, however, have a desire to keep up on what’s happening, with a limited amount of time to do so. Computer work, sound work, media, and other forms of reading seem to seep away the time, though I’ve been making roads towards something like awareness.
Since I picked up my Sony Reader Touch, I’ve been using the wonderful calibre software by Kovid Goyal. One great feature of this software is that it allows for automated download of the daily web version of the New York Times which then can be sent over to the Reader. While the free web version is a cut down version, the Sunday editions easily gross over 1,000 pages in the electronic format. Weekday editions are about half that size, on average. As much time as I like to dedicate to seeding my head with the various articles, there’s just been too much to take in, even over the course of the day.
Previously, I tried out CNN via Google Reader to do about the same job. The Times, however, has some amazing writers and editors, and I haven’t found any source to be quite as good in that regard. I have tried out other sites from time to time, though I keep coming back to them and have never been disappointed. Moreover, being able to have that content in quasi-paper form on my Reader is incredibly useful, especially for longer articles which are a bit tougher to get through via computer monitor.
Freeloading and subscriptions
The reality of newspapers is that they’re having a lot of financial trouble. Especially outlets which still have an actual print version, such as the Times and the Boston Globe, it has been increasingly hard for them to compete with other free sources of information online.
The Times does currently have a subscription model via an Adobe Air application called the Times Reader. For $3.50/week, you can get the same content as I’m getting now with calibre, but in a desktop-only client. You can, from within the application, print each article to a PDF; though they are images, not text, which drives the filesize way up. Compared to having the content in EPUB or LRF or PDF in one step, it’s certainly a step backward, and is certainly not adding any lasting value for me.
Effectively, the cost of the Times Reader is there to stave off the cost of the missing ads from the free the web version; to most web users, however, it is easy enough to ignore the ads without any real cost. This is a fundamental problem with most newspapers in this digital age, and I hope that in the future there are more options out there which allow for cheap yet not-free access to good content.
I don’t personally own a Kindle, though my understanding is that this is the closest thing to a reasonable subscription model for newspapers. Sony will release their Reader Daily Edition in the next few months, too, which has wireless access and, hopefully, some reasonable subscription options. As always, this is also a spot for DRM to rear its ugly head; however, with wireless delivery to the device alone, and the inability to draw the articles back off the device via USB, etc., this seems like a reasonable compromise.
For me, the answer is Google Reader. The idea of getting all of my news from a single outlet is frankly quaint. If a story is related to politics or economics, I’ll see it covered in one of my libertarian feeds. If it’s ultra-local, I’ll see it in my EveryBlock feed (an awesome service–sign up and make a custom feed for your zip code.) My comics tag covers all of my old favorites.
And if it’s a hyper-urgent story or one that has mass appeal, I’ll see it on facebook or twitter before it hits Google News.
There are stories that fall through the cracks, but I get much more targeted information. I’ll see stories that the Times will never cover.
Reader really changed the way I access information in a fundamental way. The only websites I regularly visit now are forums, Hacker News, FB, Twitter, etc–places where the focal point is social interaction. Everything else goes to Reader.
If you’re interested in how newspapers can effectively monetize their offerings, check out Mark Cuban’s feed. I frequently disagree with him, but he’s intelligent and has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about these things. Here’s a few links to get you started:
http://blogmaverick.com/2009/08/08/my-advice-to-fox-myspace-on-selling-content-yes-you-can/
http://blogmaverick.com/2009/09/10/google-just-showed-amazon-how-to-save-the-content-biz/
Thanks for all your comments, man, it really is great.
I do use Google Reader a lot, though at this point mostly for tech content: I have Engadget, Joystiq, Digg tech, and a bunch of miscellaneous Nokia blogs. I also follow Henry Rollin’s blog and a number of friends’ sites. That, with Ars Technica and NYT, and I have enough to go through for a given day.
The trouble with stock news feeds in Reader is that for general stories like I’m getting in NYT, there’s a shit-ton of duplication. Maybe I’m just doing something wrong, but I got tired of seeing the same headlines in slightly different versions multiple times. I’m also trying to keep up a bit more with international stories. I’m sure there are a number of blogs out there that get about the same, though I’m happy with my current results.
I like the two links from Mark Cuban. Micropayments are a bit tricky if not just for credit card companies and intermediaries, as he’s sort of saying there already. It’s also just hard because few people are doing it, and so the one company who starts charging is instantly lost to the other free sources, especially when AP and Reuters has so much to share, now.
Yeah, seeing multiple stories in the same feed is annoying. I have a few feeds that overlap in terms of audience, so it’s not uncommon for me to see big stories half a dozen times. Something like the Michael Jackson death will light up my screen like a christmas tree.
To successfully use Reader I really had to break myself of my obsessive-compulsice drive towards completion. I had to get used to the idea that I couldn’t read everything, and adapt the way I was using Reader to that idea.
It’s not a perfect system–I do miss stuff. But, I used to make a point to grab the daily news in a podcatcher and watch it the next day at work on my lunch break. (On a side not, if you’ve got an old Palm chrager lying around, they make a great cradle for an iPod touch.) What I realized was that I had already consumed the vast majority of the national news, even the fluff pieces, and sometimes days in advance of when the episode aired.
Every few months I make a big point of trying to incorporate podcasts into my daily routine, but I zone out during too much of them. Really wishing I could get that straightened out–I had a few (Cato, STRATFOR) that I really loved.
Right. In order to pare down my habits, I limit myself to checking into Reader three times during the day: in the morning, at lunch, and at night. After the third sit down, I let myself check it whenever; there’s generally less published late in the day anyway. I have not been able to successfully convince myself to not read everything, though. I skip through a lot of headlines, though I do make myself at least look at the titles. Maybe some day I’ll be less neurotic re: that, though I”m not holding my breath.
I got rid of my iPod touch, though I have a Nokia phone (5800XM) which has a podcasts app. It’s a beautiful thing: you add in the RSS feed URL, and then you have a list whereby you can update all feeds and download each one. The downloads then show up in the music player app; and all podcasts automatically keep their position, so if I stop or play music I can resume where I left off. I like it better thn the way iTunes deals with podcasts, even. The phone has WiFi, too (and I’m running without a data plan, currently), so the downloads are fast.
I was going to have another post at some point about the feeds that I subscribe to, but as of late it’s mostly just been tech stuff again. Tons of repetition there, but I like to get different perspectives on what’s going on from the different sources. It’s a lot easier to get lost in what they’re saying with that, too, especially since none of it actually matters.
For what it’s worth, too, as of late I have a pretty great commuting system. In-ear headphones, connected to phone, which blocks out sound on the train. If I get a seat, I then have my Sony Reader; otherwise, I just let the podcast play, which I can start and stop w/ an included wired remote. Ergo, there’s no real downtime.