Apple iPad's Digital Magazine Content To Cost Too Much?

Plenty of discussion about the iPad has been going on lately, but the bigger story here is that magazines and newspapers are investing time and resources to develop digital versions of their publications for Apple's tablet computer. The hope is that this will revitalize interest in their publications. But at what price?

This is, perhaps, a huge deal. This could really be the beginning of a new way for magazines and newspapers to generate money; however, it could also prove to these publications that people want their content for free and are completely satisfied with Web-based versions.

Either way, the next few months are going to be crucial for the print industry, which is exploring unknown territories in the hope of generating money with newer media formats while replacing older failing formats.

But the price of these digital versions of publications might be a barrier to entry.

The average price for a magazine or newspaper subscription can vary, buut how about some examples. The Wall Street Journal is $29 per month. Men's Health is around $4.99 per issue. Not bad, right?

To compare, the iPad version of the Wall Street Journal will be $18 per month while Men's Health will cost the same as iPad's version.

That isn't as cheap as many had hoped.

Let's consider for a moment that we wanted five magazine subscriptions. Let's assume each magazine subscription for the iPad will cost us around $8 on average for a month's worth of content. That could easily add up to $40 a month or $480 per year. Ouch!

Is $480 per year for five magazine subscriptions worth it (again, nothing this is only hypothetical)? To some people, sure it will be. But to others, it doesn't make any sense considering that anyone could fire up a browser window and view this content for free.

I pay around $20 a month for a Netflix subscription that allows me to watch as many movies as I want. So, where is the value with iPad's digital magazine subscriptions?

Let me make something clear though: I don't have a problem with magazines or newspapers making money. No problem at all. But these publishers must realize that the cost of their content must be considered with the cost of other publications. If these publishers invest a lot of time and resources into creating these digital magazines, it will certainly require plenty of subscriptions, but an increased price, however, might mean less overall subscriptions.

Sure, people will pay to be able to experience these cool magazine features with live video integrated, but I believe the appeal will quickly wear off.

Yet I assume that supply and demand will work these things out on their own. But I, for one, will not be having any of it. Apart from the fact that I am waiting for the 2nd generation of the iPad before I even consider purchasing it, I believe that the investment required is far greater than the price of the iPad itself.