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Dallas Morning News Launches Electronic Edition

Posted on October 9th, 2009 8:59am by Tim Rogers
Filed under Media

An alert FBvian points us to news that the DMN has launched an e-edition. “What?” you ask? “Hasn’t the paper been online for years?” Yes, but this version offers 3-D page turning! It’s free for subscribers and $12.95 per month for non-subscribers. I’m a subscriber, but the system doesn’t recognize me, so I can’t check it out. But if I weren’t a subscriber, I couldn’t imagine paying $12.95 per month just to get some fancy page-turning effect. [scratching head]

14 Comments to “Dallas Morning News Launches Electronic Edition”

Peterk @ October 9th, 2009 at 9:36 am

I get the entire WSJ online (all editions, 90 days access to article archive and more) for less than $100 per year, and the DMN wants ~$150 per year just to get page turning??? sheesh.
Aecintx @ October 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am

Don’t worry – no need to pay the fee – before long, they’ll be throwing the page turning feature on our front lawns for free, even if we don’t want it.
RayRay @ October 9th, 2009 at 10:40 am

Tim, try clicking the large, hard-to-miss “View Demo” button to try it out. Then tell everyone how much it sucks.
DMBurrows @ October 9th, 2009 at 11:22 am

Cool! Works great with my CueCat!
Cheryl @ October 9th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

On the face, it does seem unlikely that this feature would attract new subscribers, but I wonder if increasing eyeballs is the intent. That would be not be advisable.

Tim, would you mind doing some reporting this afternoon so that you can give us a fully formed opinion? Ask if this is indeed a new product or if it is a trial balloon to morph dallasnews.com into a subscriber model.

Thanks in advance for your curiosity and keep up the hard work.
Jason @ October 9th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

Hysterical! You still get advertisements. And the article margins are still formated for print. Essentially it’s a slow, poorly formatted .pdf
Dane @ October 9th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

@aecintx: Think the DMN counts those annoying copies of “Briefing” in their ABC circ numbers?
Michael Davis @ October 9th, 2009 at 12:43 pm

I think it’s pretty cool.
Beth @ October 9th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

This looks like something the editorial board arrived at by consensus. You have to give them credit, though, for requiring the subscriptions to be paid in dollars instead of locally sourced community garden vegetables and backyard chickens. I bet that vote was a close one.
ld @ October 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm

I don’t think I’ll pay $ for this, but I did like the way it mimics the print version. Slow load time is a negative.
BenD @ October 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm

Maybe the “system” does recognize you Tim.
Informed @ October 9th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

It’s part of their strategy to “save” the company! The traditional biz model has eroded…ad dollars. Now they want readers to pay a higher price to cover the ad dollars going out the back door…wake up! Circ numbers have declined and that means less audience so they have to secure online participation. @Dane you bet they count the copies of Briefing in audit. Just what an Advertiser wants a throw away audience.
Brad @ October 13th, 2009 at 12:06 pm

I actually like the new DMN eEdition, but I am also the only person I know under 35 who still reads a daily newspaper. Because it is basically a PDF copy of the real thing, the eEdition layout & flow appeal to me.
I will admit that I HATE their other news site. Dallasnews.com is AWFUL. Nothing stands out, the layout is bad, and forget using their search to find a story. It is easier to close the site and let google find the same story that Dallasnews.com (for some reason) cannot find on their own freakin’ site. NYTimes.com on the otherhand, is a newspaper site I enjoy and read online daily.
As for the price.. I pay $30 for daily subscription, & now get the eEdition for free, & see that as an added value. Would I be willing to pay $12.95 for eEdition alone….I doubt it. I am not tethered to my computer all day, & eEdition would not load on my phone, so I still prefer an actual paper that I can take & read anywhere.
Jeff @ October 13th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

I have to agree with Brad. I pay $28.50 a month for my DMN subscription (did you know you get a 5% discount if you enroll in the EZpay program – Brad I see you are paying $30) and I think the eEdition was a nice touch. I have spent a couple hours on the site and really enjoyed it – surprisingly.

I also thought it was a good gesture on the DMN’s part to include the electronic version in my subscription at no added cost. At least they did not use this as an opportunity to raise prices.

I too had a little bit of an issue setting up my account but I called customer service and the rep was able to walk me right through the process