Wild Safari

I recently stumbled upon the Web site safaribooksonline.com, which makes technology- and business-related books and magazines available online. I decided to take them up on their free trial offer, as I was unable to find a copy of a book for a different class in stores, I had a paper based on the material covered in the book due the next day, and my local libraries were closed (plus they didn't seem to carry the book).

This site did have the book available, and I was able to preview some of its content before I started my "free trial," just to make certain that it did have the full version of the text available. In order to sign up and start the trial, I had to input my contact and credit card information so they could bill me the full monthly access rate ($22.99) if I didn't cancel my trial within ten days. I resisted signing up for the trial for several minutes, simply because that monthly fee seemed exhorbitant, but as I had no other way of gaining access to the book, I finally succumbed.

The online material was professionally presented and I was fairly happy with the site's ease of use. I was able to finish my paper and was pleased with the experience in general. However, I couldn't get past the high monthly fee. Would I really need at my fingertips enough technological or business information to justify paying over two-hundred dollars a year for the service? If I weren't in such a hurry initially, I would have chosen a far less expensive method for getting this information (like buying the book itself, or finding it at the library). I decided to cancel my subscription after eight days.

I gather this site is most relevant to those who need to keep track of what others in the industries it covers are doing. It isn't unusual for a specialized trade publication to charge a large monthly or annual fee because its customer base is limited to those in the industry, the periodical provides a relatively exclusive service to those customers, and the periodical needs to recoup its cost (and reap a profit) from a niche set. Still, I guess I remain one of those Internet users whose willingness to pay for online content remains at or near zero. What will it take to get me (and the others like me) to find value in the convenience of online content distribution--especially since I once was willing to pay more for similar trade publications delivered to me in print?