Paper vs. ether

Jack Shafer wrote the other day that he was finally canceling his subscription to the paper edition of The New York Times, because the online version has now more or less surpassed it.

Hello, New York Times? I'd like to cancel my subscription today. No, I'm not protesting your Middle East coverage, your treatment of any ethnic minority or weird religion, and I am certainly not upset about some petty delivery problem. Nor am I angry about the gruesome picture you recently printed on Page One or your deletion of my favorite continuing feature.

I'm canceling because the redesign of your Web site, which you unveiled yesterday, bests the print edition by such a margin I've decided to pocket the annual $621.40 I currently spend on home delivery.

Oh, that's not to say that I find the Web version superior in every regard. For one thing, if I give up the print Times I'll have to find other morning bathroom reading. I'll miss dividing the paper into its respective sections, hoarding the best sections and distributing the leavings to my family. I'll also long for the big J&R ads that run on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. But seeing as I already read huge chunks of your newspaper online, sometimes with the print version in my lap, I might as well go all the way. Online better fits the way I live and work. Your spiffy new design is the tipping point I've been waiting for, and I'm convinced it will ease my transition to a paperless newspaper.

I scoffed at this. Besides the bathroom (where you can, at least, print out a longish story to peruse there), what would I do on those mornings I need to take the train to New York?

More importantly, why would one give up the biggest advantage of The Times' home delivery: getting a big chunk of the Sunday paper...on Saturday? Oh well, there goes that excuse.

Ah, but they're still holding out on the Magazine!