A popular news destination for me on the web is the Toronto Star's site. It's the newspaper I'm most familiar with and I peruse it online daily.
If you've visited their site recently, you've noticed they're asking you to register. Soon a great deal of their online content will only be accessible if you login first. This is similar to the New York Times website which requires you to register and sign in before you can view the article.
Currently, registration for the Toronto Star site is free. My question is, is this the end of free? I no longer read the National Post online because they have much of their content reserved for subscribers. Will the Toronto Star eventually follow suit?
There are enough good news sources publishing their articles online that I'm not yet willing to pay a penny for such content. If the Star decides to follow the National Post's Electronic Edition model and charge $10 or so a month, I'll simply have to get my fill from the CBC, BBC, Reuters, AP, Globe and Mail, Canoe and the many other news sites still free.
I hope this isn't the end of free. I'm a big fan of free.
