I came home from work this evening to find an email regarding my TUX magazine subscription. I originally got the tip about the free online TUX magazine from Aaron and have enjoyed reading it since. I have included the email in its entirety for your information. Upon first consideration I doubt I will continue with a paid-subscription. What do some other subscribers think?
Dear TUX Subscriber,This week you'll notice a change in TUX. It will move from being a
free digital magazine to a paid one. Your current complimentary
subscription will be extended for 6 issues (expiring after the
January 2007 issue). That being said, this is just a note to let you
know what's happening -- there's nothing at all you need to do
today. Your free subscription will continue to be delivered to you
as you had originally requested.When your subscription does expire, we will send you a notice
offerring you an opportunity to renew at our paid rate of just
$9.95/12 issues. In addition, since you've been a loyal subscriber,
we'll make certain to offer you a very special gift if you do decide
to renew at that time. Again though, there's nothing for you to do
today. Your free subscription to TUX will continue through January 2007.We started TUX in 2004 because we felt strongly it was a needed
publication within the Linux community (many of our Linux Journal
readers would write in asking for exactly this, and truthfully, many
of our own staff members wanted to learn more about their Linux
desktops also). We invested revenues from our other publication,
Linux Journal, to make it possible. We've seen it as a labor of
love. Today, however, 15 issues later, we need to turn TUX into a
self-supporting publication and that's why we are asking for our
readers' help.We promise to put more heart and effort into TUX with this
conversion. In the coming months, you can expect several new topics
and article series introduced by TUX Editor Kevin Shockey.Please let us know how we can make TUX better for you. We strongly
encourage your feedback and suggestions; please send to
[email protected].From all of us at TUX Magazine, we sincerely thank you.
I won’t continue with subscription either, which is unfortunate. I have really enjoyed the magazine, and I think the articles are great. However, $10 / month for a PDF, when I can get a printed magazine for that price isn’t worth it. Then again, I can carry a PDF easily with me where a printed magazine may be a bit more difficult. I still don’t think I’ll pay for it though.
Aaron,
It looks like it will be $0.83 a month ($9.95/12 months). Even though this is a very reasonable price, I am not sure I am willing to pay for it. Can’t they get 83 cents more advertising in the magazine? I would rather put up with advertizements than pay a few quarters every month. Am I cheap? Perhaps, but I think the internet business model has proven that when you give something away, you can get a huge customer base. You should be able to leverage those eyeballs to make a profit.
I enjoy reading Tux, and I enjoy reading Linux Journal even more. Unfortunately, I don’t buy LJ anymore because it is extremely over-priced. They charge around $16 an issue, simply because it comes with a DVD. Hello! I have broadband!
By the time the DVD arrives it already has outdated software. I would pay for a subscription to LJ if it was the price of a normal magazine. Even better, if they distributed LJ in digital format I would be even more excited to subscribe. I have written them twice to suggest this, but I have not gotten any serious responses.
Tristan
I do wonder if they could squeeze that cost into advertising, but at the same point if you distribute $0.83/ea over 1,000 or 10,000 people it quickly ads up and that would mean a lot more advertising. Personally I don’t like advertising in any form. I always change the channel during commercials, use ad-blocking plugins for my browser and usually change the station on the radio. Bottom line: consumers don’t want to see annoying, flashy ads. Find another way to generate revenue.
well I unsubscribed :/