Apple News+: Is it Worth the $9.99 per Month Subscription Price?

[MrRabuf]

No. When it comes to articles, there's too much free content out there that I see no reason to pay for it. I kind of understand why some pay for the WSJ but I personally don't see a reason to pay for a magazine or for news.

Even if it included every single news source in the world, I still wouldn't pay for it since I can get all that I need for free.

 

[randolorian]

"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

 

[TsMkLg068426]

I rather pay $9.99 to read a entire library of books why would I pay $9.99 for News when most News are free makes no sense.

 

[Arbuthnott]

I have found Apple News somewhat frustrating. I live and work internationally and like news on a number of areas of the world. Apple work hard to do the same local market segmentation that the media industry has long practiced, previously bringing us such hugely frustrating cunning stunts such as making DVD players regionally bound. And books that you can't buy if you live in a different country. This de-internationalisation might suit rural Missouri, or the sheep farmers in Woop Woop, but it really is out of tune with the modern world. Strike 1

I am interested in strategic issues and the stories behind the stories, not the wowser click-bait. Unfortunately I feel there is a bias away from serious and analytical and towards entertaining and fashionable. I could get this sort of news from FaceBook, if I had the patience to actually use my membership. Strike 2

Finally, I pay a lot to Apple every month for a variety of services. I can't think of any number low enough as a subscription price to increase that in order to "benefit" from news of this quality and usefulness. Strike 3

Yes, I'm sure that the various media negotiators, who have been dealing with Apple, all see dollar signs in on-line subscriptions. This to make up for their dying circulation of physical media and crashing advertisement revenue. Unfortunately, screwing a higher fee out of Apple is not the same as getting more money from punters like me.

This really is not an example of "Think Different", and this news media service is no way going to disrupt the overall news market. In reality this is one of those occasional clunky ideas that Apple has that dies pretty quickly. Like their attempts at a social media aspect to iTunes/Apple Music. Nice try but no biscuit

PS I have a subscription to The Economist and New Scientist. Together with the Uni Library that pretty much covers my general needs. When something interesting comes up, it is then a matter of searching the internet for more details or alternative viewpoints on an ad hoc basis

 

[matticus99]

No

 

[castlerock]

First I’ve heard of it.

Washington Post isn’t going to be included, ever. If Jeff can’t see fit to include access with AmazonPrime he’s certainly not going to strike a deal with Apple.

 

[cmwade77]

NO, it's NOT !

I expect the price to go down by 50% to $4.99/month by the end of the year.

At that point, it could take off, but NOT before.

I don't even think it will then, I think we are starting to see subscription overload already.

 

[jerryk]

The readability of text is the biggest issues for me and may cause me to not renew. Try reading the captions on any of the great pictures in National Geographic. Or worse yet, the text on one of their tables or charts. Even on an iPad Pro, they are horrible.

They need to find a way to publish these magazines in a format that is HTML based or otherwise easily reflowed for reading on phone, tablet, or computer.

 

[archer75]

I looked at the magazines offered and found at least a dozen my wife and I would enjoy. So yes, totally worth it.

 

[xalea]

I actually really like this service, although I don't like the UI at all. There doesn't seem to be a way to even search for the magazine you want to read, or to keep them in a favorites group. It's just A-Z if I remember properly (haven't used it in a few days). I do love having access to so many articles, however. Once you're in the magazine it works great. Just.. all the rest of it, no.

Also, I rarely sit down and just read anything anymore, as horrible as that sounds. I prefer things that are more interactive, I guess.

 

[ipedro]

This is always going to be subjective. A lot of people are fine with getting news from free sources that are financed by advertisers while others appreciate the value of well researched, comprehensive news articles which have to be paid for.

I'm in the latter camp. The Toronto Star subscription alone is $14.99 a month on its own. I also read Popular Science, National Geographic, GQ, Vanity Fair and Time, all of which together surpass the $9.99 per month. So yes, Apple News+ is absolutely worth its subscription price.

 

[Greenlee]

Is it Worth the $9.99 per Month Subscription Price?

No it is not. Not even if it was $3.00 a month.

 

[RWil85]

The bigger question is, is Apple News+ worth it to publications. Remember Apple gets half of the $9.99. That only leaves less than $5 to be divided among 300 (and growing?) publications. Each publication would be earning almost nothing per subscriber. Even less as more are added. Is that a sustainable model?

Which is why I cannot understand why people have posted in this thread that “the cost by (time) will be ($5 or less)”.

They lower the price - they lose publishers willing to partake.
They raise the price - they lose people willing to subscribe.

There’s a balance point - and they’ll find it.


Until then - it might be kind of hard for all sides users/Apple/publishers to figure out what’s “worth it or not”.

 

[ipedro]

Just google the title to every story, and POOF, all of the stories for free.

It's also possible to look up the title of a song, tv show and movie and POOF, all the music/tv/movies are free. Yet, hundreds of millions of people pay for music.

There's value in the convenience of having content delivered to you all in one spot, in an official way, without having to jump through hoops. Somebody has to pay content creators to keep doing what they're doing, so that freeloaders can find content to consume.

 

[decypher44]

A big, fat, gigantic nope!

 

[cfire]

A HUGE NO!

Right. Newspapers and Magazines are so last millennium. Instead of infotainment and entertainment I would like to see technological breakthroughs.

 

[ipedro]

I like the convenience but the interface is terrible. Definitely not what I expect from apple. It's not ad-free which kills it for me. I plan to cancel before having to pay. If they fix the interface and drop the ads then I may reconsider in the future.

Are you talking about the ads in magazines? That's a part of the content. Magazine ads are typically far higher quality than what you find online on websites. With excellent photography and graphic design, creative copy and overall a focus on the type of reader for that magazine, they're an artwork in of themselves.

There aren't any ads that I've seen in articles, even from newspapers like The Star whose website is littered with them but have zero ads in the News app. As far as I can tell, Apple News is entirely free of advertising, other than in magazines where you'd expect (and my case, want) them. The absence of banner ads and "sponsored stories" is alone worth the subscription.

 

[Moonlight]

The problem with Apple is that they are not a services company and most likely the never will be. Everytime they touch something with services they fail. And more and more stubborn they are and going for services instead of focusing on hardware and software symbiosis. As a result, we get failed hardware or no hardware.

Non failed services: iTunes store, Apple Music, iCloud (debatable), iMessage, eWorld (just kidding)

 

[jimbobb24]

Things like these aren’t limited to News+ or Apple in general; there seems to be this annoying-as-**** trend of automation/curation or personalized recommendations that make a UI really difficult for the end user.

It’s hard to anticipate what will show up where, for how long, how to get rid of something, and how to add something in the first place.

Every Friday for the last year I listen to the Apple Music Best of The Week and almost no other curated playlist. Does Apple recommend this playlist to me? Do they know I want it and put it prominently in my view? No. Every single week I have to scroll through other playlists to find it and sometimes need to search for it. The algorithms fail me.

As for this - they still make magazines. Thats cool! Seems like a niche market but for those whole love magazines should be great.

 

[spiddyman007]

No way. I used to use Spotify a lot for free but now I just mp3juices.com download to MusiCloud and bang no ads and it’s free

Apple in late March unveiled its new Apple News+ service, which is designed to let Apple News users access over 200 magazines and some paywalled news content for a $9.99 per month fee.

We've been using Apple News+ over the course of the last week and a half and in our latest YouTube video, we explore whether the service is worth the $9.99 monthly cost.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

Apple News+ primarily focuses on magazines, and there are right around 240 to choose from right now. There are major titles like National Geographic and The New Yorker, along with many smaller specialty magazines. The subscription fee also includes access to some paywalled news content from sites like The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, though as we'll explain, there are some caveats.

All the new Apple News+ content is accessible through a new Apple News+ section in the Apple News app, which is displayed regardless of whether you subscribe to Apple News+. Apple News+ features a My Magazines section with content that you're reading along with story and magazine suggestions from Apple News editors.

The user interface looks simple enough, but there are some quirks that have been confusing new subscribers. There's no clear way to add a new magazine to the My Magazines list, and in fact, you have to search for the title of the magazine in the standard Apple News interface and "favorite" it with a heart to get it to show up reliably in My Magazines or tap the title to get taken to an overview page, neither of which is intuitive.

To further confuse things, some magazines that you've read but haven't favorited will temporarily be displayed in My Magazines, and there are no options anywhere to control what shows up there, nor to customize content recommendations to make them more relevant to one's interests.

When it comes to the magazines themselves, newly released magazine issues from major companies have a digital-focused interface that lets you scroll through a list of stories to get to what you want to read, but for back issues and lesser known magazines, content is presented in a PDF format that's less than ideal.

PDFs look all right on iPad, but are difficult to read on iPhone, and the Mac interface for Apple News+ is no better. The single page spread on Mac features small text that's not easy to zoom into, making reading PDF-based magazines on most devices a less than stellar experience.

News content is included in Apple News+, but in the case of The Wall Street Journal, there are some limitations. While you can access The Wall Street Journal's full range of content, Apple is only highlighting a selection of general interest news stories, and to find anything else, you have to search. Apple News+ also only retains three days of archived content.

Other major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post have refused to join Apple News+, and it's not clear if these publications will change their position.

Apple News+ is likely to improve in the future with interface updates and as more magazines adopt the customized digital-forward design, but right now, the service feels sloppy, unfinished, and confusing.

It's also not clear if it's something that will interest the general public given the heavy focus on magazines and the lack of subscription-based news that's available. Apple's prior magazine effort, Apple Newsstand, was ultimately unsuccessful. Unlimited access to magazine content might lure more readers, but whether this new venture will succeed remains to be seen.

Apple News+ had more than 200,000 subscribers following its March introduction, but all of those accounts are still on the one-month free trial that's available and are not yet paying customers.

Have you signed up for Apple News+ and do you plan to keep the subscription? Let us know in the comments, and if you have questions about Apple News+, make sure to check out our Apple News+ guide.

Article Link: Apple News+: Is it Worth the $9.99 per Month Subscription Price?

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[m4mario]

On an iPhone - No
On an iPad - May be

 

[spiddyman007]

No way. I used to use Spotify a lot for free but now I just mp3juices.com download to MusiCloud and bang no ads and it’s free

o

Did I mention you don’t need to waste data either and you don’t need to fight for a signal while your skiing

 

[MadCar]

I'm not sure that this has been mentioned from what I can see.

But https://gb.readly.com is absolutely fantastic. Give it a trial, £7.99 in the UK, US available, huge selection of magazines to read.

Everyone I mention it to is a complete convert, no magazines around the house just everyone using Really.

 

[FriendlyPanda]

Nope nope nope...

 

[newdarkness]

I agree on what you said, but being an old texture reader. They are missing some key features like older issues and being able to search across all the magazines! It is cheaper now from $14.99 and with there is a few mores magazines. If they don't fix these issues soon they will lose an old texture subscriber...