# do you pay for an online newspaper subscription or other digital subscriptions



## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i am on a 4-month deal at the globe and mail and pay i think $12 .. the regular price for unlimited is $26 

i also have a deal on the ny times for $8 a month for a year with 8 months or so to go

there is no way i will be renewing the globe for $26 a month given all the other digital subscriptions i pay like pocket, netflix, crave tv (only month and it is already gone) apple music $99 a year

the globe is living in dreamland if they think $26 a month is reasonable

i'm curious what other digital subscriptions people are using


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

We pay for Netflix (2 years now) and Spotify (recently started to work through my Sonos system in particular). Don't care about anything else.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

The only news I pay for is the Economist. They do a lot of good longer form journalism.

I do use Google Play music. I share a Netflix account with my family. I use Patreon to support a few podcasts and content creators I like.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

I have subsribed to Globe and the National Post from time time. No subscribing now. Also did Economist for a few years.


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

I subscribed to the Globe and Mail some years ago when it was on sale, but canceled when the price went up as I just didn’t think it was worth the regular price. 
I formerly subscribed to Netflix but cancelled it when they inserted a mechanism to prevent people using VPNs from getting access. I like having a VPN for security reasons. 
I paid a one time voluntary donation to the Guardian because I like to read it, and I get access to more content.
I also pay a couple of dollars each month for access to RTE International. Ireland is my home country and it’s nice to be able to watch Irish news, entertainment, drama, documentary and sports.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Investor's Business Daily charges extra for a lot of things. I am paying $89 a month for access to 2 or 3 special sections. It is worth it if you invest in their stock picks, but I know their methods are too radical for a lot of investors.


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## houska (Feb 6, 2010)

We pay for the Economist (expensive but worth it), Washington Post (reasonably priced and worth it), and The Guardian (supporter level). I get free access to WSJ through a professional membership.

We do have a digital subscription, with gritted teeth, to the Globe and Mail. It is overpriced for the (deteriorating) quality, but we think it's important to support a free press and in Canada the G&M is the best (mainstream) of a bad lot.

For professional reasons, I subscribe to HBR (think I get a printed copy that I can't stop, but really only read online). Am intending to drop since am finding less and less each month that wouldn't be facile and largely content-free.

We've given up other digital media subscriptions (i.e. magazines and newspapers) since we found we didn't have time to read them. That included at various times the NY Times, Macleans, the Walrus (print) as well as more specialized (e-)magazines.
We do subscribe to Netflix. That + youtube (+ books, nature, concerts, and family/friends!) meet our entertainment needs (for music, we've digitized our CD collection and play it through Sonos - haven't seen the need for Spotify or Apple Music).


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## lonewolf :) (Sep 13, 2016)

Warning do not claim subscription cost or might start getting taxed as business


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

We used to subscribe to the Economist at our office but we couldn't keep up with it. Now I just get it for free online through our library and read only what interests me instead of feeling obligated to read it every week.

I also do the same with Financial Post and ROB/Globeinvestor through the Pressreader app.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

Koogie said:


> We used to subscribe to the Economist at our office but we couldn't keep up with it. Now I just get it for free online through our library and read only what interests me instead of feeling obligated to read it every week.
> 
> I also do the same with Financial Post and ROB/Globeinvestor through the Pressreader app.


are those free with press reader ?


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## Woody (Oct 30, 2012)

Maclean's, Popular Mechanics, and Food Network Magazine (This is how the wife survives without FoodTV after we cut cable and went OTA).


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Koogie said:


> We used to subscribe to the Economist at our office but we couldn't keep up with it. Now I just get it for free online through our library and read only what interests me instead of feeling obligated to read it every week.
> 
> I also do the same with Financial Post and ROB/Globeinvestor through the Pressreader app.


I solved this by listening to the audiobook version of it. It's about 6 hours per week, and I usually listen at ~1.7x speed. Great for while you are driving, working out, cleaning. I would never have time to actually read it.


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

fatcat said:


> are those free with press reader ?


The Economist is through the Zinio app, the papers through pressreader.


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## OutofBounds (Dec 7, 2016)

Netflix and Spotify for movies/music, and Amazon Prime primarily for the 2 day shipping but bonus nachos...we get Prime video too which has good shows. 

I find journalism dubious at best, heavily biased and corrupt at worst so I refuse to pay for it. I get my news sources from a mix of free online mainstream and non-mainstream media. Even then, I rarely look at it much since I just end up getting pissed off. 

Magazines are obsolete in my opinion as I can get that sort of entertainment online. Fishing, firearms, tools, trucks etc all have their own forums which offer infinitely more information than magazines.


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## Nerd Investor (Nov 3, 2015)

I'm on a 12 week promotion for the Economist right now. Print + Digital. I haven't investigated the regular price yet but I'll likely choose one of either print or digital. As it stands, I find sometimes I've already read the most interesting pieces in the digital by the time the print arrives.


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## BC Eddie (Feb 2, 2014)

The Economist is the best! I read and listen to it on my phone. I want to read the whole edition every week because almost all the articles are so interesting. It is also, IMO, the best researched and balanced source of information out there. Just wished they offered a break on the subscription cost if you only wanted the digital format.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

I don't currently have any paid on-line subscriptions. My portfolios and investing knowledge are kind of past saving so I read for interest.
I do login to our library and into current newspapers/mags on occasion but haven't managed to make it a regular habit.
Real paper went the way of the dinosaur at our house when I began having to search for the content amongst the ads and flyers - too much that went directly to the blue bin.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

I subscribe to the Globe. I'm saving the planet by digital only subscription, (and never mind the gas and coal fired plants needed to run the internet.) I got attached to the Globe's portfolio and tools section. 

Some favourates I have subscribed to in the past are Valueline, Investors Business daily, and the Investment Reporter. they are all fine, and any respectable do it yourself investor should be familiar with them.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> I don't currently have any paid on-line subscriptions. My portfolios and investing knowledge are kind of past saving so I read for interest.
> I do login to our library and into current newspapers/mags on occasion but haven't managed to make it a regular habit.
> Real paper went the way of the dinosaur at our house when I began having to search for the content amongst the ads and flyers - too much that went directly to the blue bin.


the library in victoria (and most of canada, it is one of the many blessings of our country that we have great libraries) is excellent and you can get so much digital stuff for free

pluto, i just canceled my globe sub ... i refuse to pay $26 a month when i can get the ny times for $8 ... but i do like the globe also ... their investing section is full of the usual investment porn articles "8 overlooked high-dividend payers ripe for a turnaround" kind of stuff but i like the organization and there are a lot of tools ... but i am on strike at $26

tdw does have some of their stuff inside tdw


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## verticalguy (Nov 3, 2017)

No, I don't. The news I need are available for free online.


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## londoncalling (Sep 17, 2011)

I received a 1 year subscription to Canadian Money Saver (digital and paper) last Xmas. Would renew e-version, but will likely get it gifted again. I read both printed and electronic. I take the print version to work and a co worker provides me his copy of the Investment Reporter. Used to purchase moneysense as part of my kids magazine campaign through school.Our household killed cable years ago and Showme until it was discontinued. We replaced it with Crave which we had off and on previously. We currently have Netflix (had for years), amazon prime and as a result amazon video. The wife has Hulu and google play. I use a lot of youtube for music needs. All of these subscriptions combined are still substantially cheaper than our previous cable. We have our internet bundled with our cell service but opted out of the cable portion. A bit more than what the OP asked for but I started doing some mental accounting/budgeting.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

fatcat said:


> there is no way i will be renewing the globe for $26 a month given all the other digital subscriptions i pay like pocket, netflix, crave tv (only month and it is already gone) apple music $99 a year
> 
> i'm curious what other digital subscriptions people are using


Amazon prime = shipping, video streaming, music streaming, photo storage

Tried Apple music this summer, now back to Spotify and trying prime music now that it's available to Canadian prime members

Lots of news available for free from many news aggregators, I see no reason to pay

Same for video entertainment, lots of quality free content available on youtube, vimeo, apple tv, red bull tv, cbc tv etc

Never paid for cable or satellite in my life but I live in hotels a lot and I can't believe anyone pays for it.


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

I split a local newspaper online subscription with my in-laws.

Other online subscriptions I have are Netflix $11/month for 2 screens. Apple Music $15/month for family access.

I would probably ditch the newspaper except my inlaws want it still so might as well use it too. The other two I consider well worth the cost.


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

We now pay for Netflix, Crave and our cable news package which includes CNN, BBC, CBC News, MSNBC, Fox etc. 

We have not paid for a print subscription for many years but I find myself increasingly tempted by NYT and/or WaPo online. 

Globe and Mail and National Post are great but I find the prices a little steep. 

We used to pay for quality journalism but now we all want everything for free. That wrecks the economic model for professional news organizations and professional journalists. It equalizes the playing field between those who focus on the truth and those who focus on clickbait. The model _may_ have impacted the last US election because bots were used to increase exposure to Russian propaganda instead of real news.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

olivaw said:


> We now pay for Netflix, Crave and our cable news package which includes CNN, BBC, CBC News, MSNBC, Fox etc.
> 
> We have not paid for a print subscription for many years but I find myself increasingly tempted by NYT and/or WaPo online.
> 
> ...


i found a deal for the nytimes for a year at $8CAD a month ... can't remember where though


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

fatcat said:


> i found a deal for the nytimes for a year at $8CAD a month ... can't remember where though


Thanks for the heads up. The site is currently offering CAD 2.50 per week for the first year. I am going to look around for that 8/mo price.


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## BeautifulAngel (Jun 30, 2017)

I am currently not subscribed to anything. 

I find I don't really have a want to read magazines and I'm not online enough to subscribing on Netflix or anything else. I also feel as though to me, the cost of the magazines can get pricey and I can get a lot of free information online.


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