An electronic version of the newspaper? That’s crazy talk

Phone couplers rock!

The Philly Inquirer subscription people relentlessly call several times per week, to get me to upgrade my service. After I did to Thursday through Sunday, they now keep calling to add the rest of the week. All we wanted was the Sunday paper, and asking them to stop calling us does not help. Our phone # is even listed in the do not call list from the government. Sometimes they call when the kids are in bed. Jerks. We need to go electronic to stop the madness. Get a Surface coffee table in read on it.

"Our phone # is even listed in the do not call list from the government." Do telemarketers have to be a part of some kind of regulated "direct marketers association" in order to comply with the rules of the Do Not Call list? If so, you can threaten to sue them for harassment. We can in Canada anyway....Although any company that isn't a member can't call after 30 days of you telling them not to call. Any company that is a member can't call consumers on the list. Period. Unfortunately, US telemarketers that call into Canada don't have to comply with anything, and suing them is next to impossible. "The Dallas Morning News is raising its local daily paper rate up to $1.00. $2.00 for the Sunday Paper." Local papers here come out every day except Tuesday and Thursday, and they're all free. The current circulation is around 50,000.

"Our phone # is even listed in the do not call list from the government." The Do Not Call list does not prohibit calls from companies with a legitimate business relationship to the person called. Because you subscribe to their paper, you are considered to have a legitimate business relationship to them, and thus they can call you anytime they like. Doesn't make it any less annoying, but that's the law. FWIW, I had the exact same situation with the Inquirer. I take the Sunday paper only, and they called me frequently to upsell to other plans. I finally told the lady on the phone that if they EVER called me again to upsell, I would cancel my subscription for good. They haven't called back.

"The Dallas Morning News"... "the paper's conservative views and technology are costing them subscriptions. Gee, I wonder why." Replace that with the New York Times and liberal views, and you have that on a much bigger scale. 3.6% drop for them, while the more conservative WSJ had a mild increase.

Thanks guys. I try to be polite with any one that calls. I threatened PNC bank that I'd pull out all my money if they continued to call. I initially agreed to have a rep cal me, but after listening, I told the rep that I was not interested. But then numerous others called until the woke up the babies, so I did what webguy suggested. It looks as if I may do the same for the Inquirer. They are also on the web and also just raised prices, so I wonder how much longer they will be in business. The lawn service added a gas surcharge last summer, which will probably be removed now that gas prices dropped. Isn't the price of stuff going down, along with peoples' income? Why would they decide to raise prices and risk people canceling? Do they think that their paper is absolutely necessary for our daily lives? I ain't toilet paper ;)

My main gripe with Kindle is that content comes in a format that differs too much from the print version. Add to the fact that it does not implement color e-ink and doesn't match the size or dpi of your typical magazine...just makes for a lousy experience. Zinio comes closest to delivery an equal experience to print. Several years ago, I thought we would have seen these displays by now for less than $50. With flip open, 2 display readers going for $100. But this technological/manufacturing breakthrough hasn't occurred. You would think if you're in a industry in decline that you would make investments in technology that can save your behind.