[leebase]

The iPad and other slates are supposed to user in a new revenue stream for magazine publishers. As I await my iPad, I got to thinking about what would entice me to pay for a magazine app/subscription verses just going to their website for free.

Even if the magazine app is nicer, more interactive etc. -- would I pay for it if I could get the same content as the stuff they put on the web for free? I doubt it. So what would I pay for?

A good and interesting app is just the start. I certainly plan on subscribing to Wired just for the experience of their cutting edge app. But that's not going to fly for long.

Back content. I'd subscribe to a photography magazine if I could also have access to the back issues. I'd hope for not just links to back issues, but integrated search to help find, say, a particular tutorial that was published in a back issue.

Combined print/digital subscription. I surely don't want to have to pay for a magazine and then pay AGAIN for access online. I might be willing to pay a _bit_ more for a combined subscription. I surely expect that whatever online goodies they have on their website, I'd get access to if I subscribed to their magazine app.

What say you?

Lee