Re: CK Media in Trouble

[Veruca Salt]

I could get burned for saying this...but I'd go elsewhere...that's up there with paying for email for me. JMHO

And that attitude is what is destroying published media. We wouldn't expect to receive a print magazine for free and yet, almost all media outlets have morphed into providing nearly all their printed content online for free. No wonder they can't survive.

Why buy the cow when you're getting the milk for free after all?

But we are not here to save published media. We are the consumer and if more consumers demand online or free content, then that is where the trend will go. Everything is online now, from manuals of the newest widget you just bought to the latest gossip on celebrity X.

A great point in case is Kodak. For the life of their company, they sold film.... everything was great, they were the premier manufacturer of film until the digital era came about. Then, after a hundred years of selling film, they had to make a choice. Keep primarily selling film and watch the ship sink, or change with the times, become innovative and try to change their company and image with their customers. They did the later and now have made a mark in affordable digital cameras and printers.

Technology waits for no one. It is the business' job to stay current with what the consumers demands, not the other way around.

[Kymberly68]

So, my point is ... if they have great content, people would pay for it. I think I would, if (and this is a BIG if) everything works how it is supposed to. It needs to be monitored and provide good service as well, which I am unsure if CK can handle. Then the web-subscribers would get the first shot at kits, books, CKU registration, etc. A clear benefit of joining. I think it could really work, with not much overhead.

I believe many of the Reimain Publications (County Woman, Taste of Home, Reminisce, etc.) are this way. I know that I can check out their Cooking site but if I want access to the variety of recipes - I need to enter the subscription info from my label. I'm not sure how they would address it for the newstand buyers.

I think the trick is to see the online site not as a little freebie addition to the print mag but as actually moving toward REPLACING the print mag.

I actually prefer a printed in-my-hand publication. I have no real interest in reading everything online. That said, I think I'm going to be a dinosaur because that does seem to be the way things are going!