Throw in the Set of Steak Knives and I Am There

In the olden days, "how much would you pay?" was almost always followed by "... but wait, there's more." Now, with the kids and their kooky Internet thingie, it's more like, "pay what you would want to pay." Period. No free gifts, but no need for the four easy payments, either.

Here's the deal: Radiohead recently released its new disc, In Rainbows, on their website for the low, low price of: whatever you wanted to pay. They suggested a price, and offered more if you paid full price, but you could (and many did) get the album for free. Legally.

Now, I really don't get Radiohead (please, Radiohead fans, let's not go there right now), so their offer didn't have any impact on me. But now Paste Magazine has the same sort of offer: a year's subscription for whatever you think it's worth. There is a minimum price of $1 and people who pay more than the regular subscription price will be recognized in a future issue. Even current subscribers can take advantage of the offer and re-up for a year at the self-defined price.

Paste is an excellent music and culture magazine, and each issue comes with an always interesting sampler CD, but for budgetary reasons I can only subscribe to a limited number of magazines. Right now it's Consumer Reports - which I always subscribe to because I like their advocacy work (and, of course, their reviews) and Beer Advocate, because I like beer (and, of course, their reviews).

I would love to add Paste to that list (and have thought in the past of subscribing), but now the question is: how much do I pay? Do I pay the minimum with the knowledge that if enough people sign up, Paste would have many more readers and could theoretically cover the cheaper subscribers with higher advertising rates? Do I pay the suggested price ($19.95), which, as much as I would have liked to, I wouldn't have done if I hadn't heard of this offer? Or do I reward Paste for their hippie-dippie generosity by paying over the asking price (and get my name in a magazine as a bonus)?

What do you, both my readers, think? I'm leaning towards $5 or $10 bucks, but technically my magazine budget is already maxed out, so maybe just a buck?

Just like those old Ginsu knife offers, the Paste deal is only good for a limited time, so let me know what I should do, quick!

Comments

[Jim/The Velvet Blog]

If it helps, I signed up yesterday and paid $5. I never bought the magazine before, though I've seen it at Barnes and Noble.

If I like it and want to resubscribe in a year, I'd pay the full price.

[Janie]

I'd pay half...

Dang... I hope this catches on (say, for instance, at ShopRite).

[yoko]

Pay $5 or $10, and up the amount if you decide you like it and want to continue for next year.

Love Consumer Reports. and I don't get Radiohead, either.

[Jim/The Velvet Blog]

God, I'm a cheap bastard.

[TwoBusy]

Plenty of large-circulation magazines offer $9 new subscriber rates to draw people in -- I can think of at least 3 different pubs I subscribe to now that sucked me in that way. It maintains that magic single-digit number (where you feel like, if I can't come up with $9 for something that makes me happy, I might as well just pack it in now), while still getting close to the equally magic $1/issue mark where you don't feel like they're actively losing money in postage every month.

$9, guilt-free. Go for it.

[Jay]

So what did you decide? (I love Radiohead, and the band got more of my money than Paste did.)