Hands on with Apple News+ -- Is it worth the monthly fee?

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 61
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    ddf200 said:
    I have subscription fatigue. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Spotify, newspapers.... plus backup service, Adobe, VPN, cloud storage, Quicken. Subscriptions can be great value, the problem is in aggregate, they have become a financial burden forcing me to reevaluate all subscriptions and where I want to focus monthly spending.
    Ok, I'll help.  You can cancel Amazon (just buy $25 worth of stuff at a time) and Quicken (perfectly good free alternatives).  You're welcome.  What's a good VPN to use?
    There are free alternatives out there --- but none with the scope and power of Quicken or as well connected to financial institutions.
    But more importantly:   the free alternatives (or the ones I have seen) all store your private financial data on their servers.   You can do that with Quicken but you don't have to .  You can keep it local on your own harddrive -- which is the ONLY place I want my personal financial data.

    In that regard, Quicken has a bit of a monopoly going on.
  • Reply 22 of 61
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,415member
    Does it mean that anything that's in News Plus is free content and won't ask me for subscription?
  • Reply 23 of 61
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    stevemebs said:
    I wish the price didn't jump up to $13 in Canada. $9.99 seems ok but the extra $3 sounds pricey. Maybe I'm being cheap.

    Does anyone think they'll start bundling the various services? ie. i'm already paying $15/month for family access to Apple Music. If I also get News+, AppleTV+, and Arcade, will there be a price break?
    There is no "extra" $3.


    SoliGeorgeBMacchasm
  • Reply 24 of 61
    MisterKitMisterKit Posts: 492member
    A service like this fits like a well broken in pair of sneakers for me. I love to read and be up on a wide variety of topics. My main interests and much more is included in the 300+ high quality included magazines. It integrates seamlessly with all my Apple devices. I signed on immediately and can see no reason short of ill health or financial ruin to sway me to unsubscribe.
    GeorgeBMacchasm
  • Reply 25 of 61
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    I refuse to pay for anything is advertising is involved. Free with ads or ads removed for a price. No double dipping. It's ruined TV and will online media as well. If your product is so great it should speak for itself, why should I believe and ad when the advertiser is the only one who has anything to gain?
    Hmm… so you've never bought a newspaper, seen any professional sporting event in person, or watch studio movies and TV shows where product placement is commonplace?
  • Reply 26 of 61
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,285member
    Boy I am surprised by all the Naysaying here. And I think what needs to be emphasized here is the freedom from advertising and being exploited by advertisers.  That comes with a price...much like shelling out extra for ad-free Hulu, CBS all access or the dreaded Spotify.

    As for me, I read the Atlantic, Wired pretty consistently (and I subscribe to them and a few more...Harpers, Tricycle, NYT).  I will occasionally read articles in the WSJ, New Yorker, Outside, NatGeo, VF, New York ROBs.

    Yeah I have subscription fatigue and I have not saved money as a cable TV cord cutter.

    But I would not fault anyone for shelling out $10 a month for a great visual and ad-free reading experience on an iPad.
  • Reply 27 of 61
    I have the money ready, but the service isn't ready for me!!
  • Reply 28 of 61
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    "Apple News+ will present a curated slate of stories that are tailored to you as well as a general audience." No thank you, algorithms are dumb "editors" I'l do that myself. 

    "is a resounding yes. Apple News+ contains more than 300 magazines" Of which you may find 2-3 of real interest. How is this different from cable TV's 300 channels of screaming housewives, endless sports, re-hashed sit-coms?

    I was ridiculed by some here for warning of on giant corporation dominating, "curating" and pretty ending free speech for small publications, I think it has begun. 


  • Reply 29 of 61
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    "Apple News+ will present a curated slate of stories that are tailored to you as well as a general audience." No thank you, algorithms are dumb "editors" I'l do that myself. 

    "is a resounding yes. Apple News+ contains more than 300 magazines" Of which you may find 2-3 of real interest. How is this different from cable TV's 300 channels of screaming housewives, endless sports, re-hashed sit-coms?

    I was ridiculed by some here for warning of on giant corporation dominating, "curating" and pretty ending free speech for small publications, I think it has begun. 


  • Reply 30 of 61
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    OK here's my feelings for what they are worth.  I spent many years in the publishing world and was heavily into installations of DTP systems to many large print media organizations.  This feels like deja vu.

    The concept seems great but there is a huge flaw.  It's like going back in time to early web sites looking at even the better-adapted Magazines and even those offer mediocre experiences.  Most look and feel like PDFs output from Quark Xpress back in 1998.

    These Magaize compared to a good Website are like comparing 2D to 3D for want of a better metaphor.  

    The idea of News+ is valid though, what's wrong is the 25-year-old feeling Magazines themselves. Somehow there needs to be all the richness and interactivity of a web site but not running in a web browser.  Each magazine within News+ should be a rich and fully interactive experience.  Which is exactly where I thought we were heading a few years ago with Apple's iBooks Author.  IMHO the Magazine staff themselves are either not skilled enough with the likes of iBooks Author or too busy with print media output to have taken the time to create these offerings as they should be.  

    Perhaps Apple needs to provide the staff and training for the print world to create the material iBooks Author is capable of because for me this isn't worth the effort to scroll through these flat PDFs however nice the News+ delivery system may be. I'd rather stick with web sites for now.  

    Perhaps News+ could consider including genuine web sites that are ad-free within this ecosystem that are walled off from the greater internet problems (looking at you Google).
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 31 of 61
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 403member
    Anyone find a place to see the full list of magazines and news papers offered?
  • Reply 32 of 61
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    MacPro said:
    OK here's my feelings for what they are worth.  I spent many years in the publishing world and was heavily into installations of DTP systems to many large print media organizations.  This feels like deja vu.

    The concept seems great but there is a huge flaw.  It's like going back in time to early web sites looking at even the better-adapted Magazines and even those offer mediocre experiences.  Most look and feel like PDFs output from Quark Xpress back in 1998.

    These Magaize compared to a good Website are like comparing 2D to 3D for want of a better metaphor.  

    The idea of News+ is valid though, what's wrong is the 25-year-old feeling Magazines themselves. Somehow there needs to be all the richness and interactivity of a web site but not running in a web browser.  Each magazine within News+ should be a rich and fully interactive experience.  Which is exactly where I thought we were heading a few years ago with Apple's iBooks Author.  IMHO the Magazine staff themselves are either not skilled enough with the likes of iBooks Author or too busy with print media output to have taken the time to create these offerings as they should be.  

    Perhaps Apple needs to provide the staff and training for the print world to create the material iBooks Author is capable of because for me this isn't worth the effort to scroll through these flat PDFs however nice the News+ delivery system may be. I'd rather stick with web sites for now.  

    Perhaps News+ could consider including genuine web sites that are ad-free within this ecosystem that are walled off from the greater internet problems (looking at you Google).
    I have a few ad-free websites I use, but not without subscribing to them. Wired and Ars for example. None would accept anything so trivial as a few pennies as fair payment for those ad-free experiences. No different than "back in the day" when you expected fair compensation by the publishers you worked for. That's not going to happen with an all-you-can-eat $10 buffet served up by Apple.
  • Reply 33 of 61
    CMSACMSA Posts: 4member
    felix01 said:
    After digging much deeper into what I was losing by giving up my existing WSJ subscription, I realized Apple’s News+ contains a WSJ chameleon which might satisfy the needs of a casual financial reader but won’t satisfy the requirements of someone who makes significant money in the markets.

    So I’ll be keeping my WSJ subscription and passing on News+ despite what I said yesterday.

    I'm really irritated that Apple tried to pull this sleight of hand trickery, acting like the full subscription was available except the archives. Not true, a deep dive will show WSJ is withholding a lot of data and analysis.
    Hi Felix - I did some exploring myself and I'm not sure if you are correct.  That said, I can't figure it out!!  Here's what I found: if you scroll down in the News+ tab and click on one of the featured WSJ articles, and THEN click on the "Wall Street Journal" banner on the top of that story, you are taken to (at least what appears to be) all of the WSJ content.  You get tabs for "Top Stories," "U.S," "World," "Business & Finance," "Opinion," and "Life & Arts," exactly as you would in the WSJ app and/or through the prior News app provided you entered your subscription information.  It appears to me that everything is there ... doesn't appear to be curated or limited in any way.  As a fellow WSJ reader, I'm curious to hear your feedback after following this path.  By the way, if THIS is the only path to take to the full WSJ content, my message to Apple would be ... COME ON, GUYS!  Utterly silly and counter-intuitive. 
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 34 of 61
    felix01 said:
    After digging much deeper into what I was losing by giving up my existing WSJ subscription, I realized Apple’s News+ contains a WSJ chameleon which might satisfy the needs of a casual financial reader but won’t satisfy the requirements of someone who makes significant money in the markets.

    So I’ll be keeping my WSJ subscription and passing on News+ despite what I said yesterday.

    I'm really irritated that Apple tried to pull this sleight of hand trickery, acting like the full subscription was available except the archives. Not true, a deep dive will show WSJ is withholding a lot of data and analysis.
    That's unfortunate.  Thanks for the first-hand report.

    I was giving Apple the benefit of the doubt that "full access to newspapers" meant ... full access at least for current content.  

    EDIT:  unless what CMSA says, in which case Apple is telling the truth...
    edited March 2019 CMSA
  • Reply 35 of 61
    ddf200 said:
    I have subscription fatigue. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Spotify, newspapers.... plus backup service, Adobe, VPN, cloud storage, Quicken. Subscriptions can be great value, the problem is in aggregate, they have become a financial burden forcing me to reevaluate all subscriptions and where I want to focus monthly spending.
    Ok, I'll help.  You can cancel Amazon (just buy $25 worth of stuff at a time) and Quicken (perfectly good free alternatives).  You're welcome.  What's a good VPN to use?
    There are free alternatives out there --- but none with the scope and power of Quicken or as well connected to financial institutions.
    But more importantly:   the free alternatives (or the ones I have seen) all store your private financial data on their servers.   You can do that with Quicken but you don't have to .  You can keep it local on your own harddrive -- which is the ONLY place I want my personal financial data.

    In that regard, Quicken has a bit of a monopoly going on.
    Fair enough.  I loved Quicken back in the day when I used to write checks and pay bills.  Now everything is on auto pay and I don't write checks and don't have to balance a checkbook.  I hope USAA doesn't lose track of what money I have, but I'm willing to trust them.
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 36 of 61
    stevemebs said:
    I wish the price didn't jump up to $13 in Canada. $9.99 seems ok but the extra $3 sounds pricey. Maybe I'm being cheap.

    Does anyone think they'll start bundling the various services? ie. i'm already paying $15/month for family access to Apple Music. If I also get News+, AppleTV+, and Arcade, will there be a price break?
    There is no "extra" $3.


    Dammit, now I feel like I'm getting ripped off to the tune of 0.37 CAD per month!
    Soli
  • Reply 37 of 61
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    stevemebs said:
    I wish the price didn't jump up to $13 in Canada. $9.99 seems ok but the extra $3 sounds pricey. Maybe I'm being cheap.

    Does anyone think they'll start bundling the various services? ie. i'm already paying $15/month for family access to Apple Music. If I also get News+, AppleTV+, and Arcade, will there be a price break?
    There is no "extra" $3.


    Dammit, now I feel like I'm getting ripped off to the tune of 0.37 CAD per month!
    🤣
  • Reply 38 of 61
    peteopeteo Posts: 402member
    ddf200 said:
    I have subscription fatigue. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Spotify, newspapers.... plus backup service, Adobe, VPN, cloud storage, Quicken. Subscriptions can be great value, the problem is in aggregate, they have become a financial burden forcing me to reevaluate all subscriptions and where I want to focus monthly spending.
    Ok, I'll help.  You can cancel Amazon (just buy $25 worth of stuff at a time) and Quicken (perfectly good free alternatives).  You're welcome.  What's a good VPN to use?
    even better, do not sign up for apple news and use the web to get all the same content for "free". It even works on iOS.. I know amazing, jobs said it was magical to surf the web on it
    edited March 2019
  • Reply 39 of 61
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    peteo said:
    ddf200 said:
    I have subscription fatigue. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Spotify, newspapers.... plus backup service, Adobe, VPN, cloud storage, Quicken. Subscriptions can be great value, the problem is in aggregate, they have become a financial burden forcing me to reevaluate all subscriptions and where I want to focus monthly spending.
    Ok, I'll help.  You can cancel Amazon (just buy $25 worth of stuff at a time) and Quicken (perfectly good free alternatives).  You're welcome.  What's a good VPN to use?
    even better, do not sign up for apple news and use the web to get all the same content for "free". It even works on iOS.. I know amazing, jobs said it was magical to surf the web on it
    How much is your time worth? At $10/month I'd rather get my news in a way that saves me time over having to scour the internet just to save 33¢ per day.
  • Reply 40 of 61
    netrox said:
    Does it mean that anything that's in News Plus is free content and won't ask me for subscription?
    I believe once you subscribe (or free trial) you have access without an individual subscription. You also have access to older issues. The current issue is automatically downloaded and older ones can be downloaded as well for off line reading. 
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