More on Newspapers’ Digital Editions

In a move that seems like a wrong-headed extension of the one in the previous post, the New York Times and Microsoft are teaming up to allow readers to download an electronic version of the newspaper and view it on a portable device. The benefit, they claim, is that the software “would allow The Times to replicate its look — fonts, typeface and layout — more closely than its Web site now does.”

The reaction has been almost universally negative:

Jeff Jarvis: “The only reasons to do this are to feed editorial ego, to think you’re maintaining editorial control, to try to dupe advertisers into thinking this the same as putting an ad in print, and to grasp desperately onto a past that is disappearing.”
Scott Karp: “To use the print layout as an organizing principle for digital access actually destroys value for readers, i.e. the Times is taking a purely publisher-centric approach to publishing.”
Peter Merholz: “I wager that any attempt to preserve the look online will lead to a loss of value — however many people utilize a service will not be made up for in the costs of developing it.”

In addition, as he points out in comments on those sites, Rex Hammock has been questioning this approach as far back at 2002.

They all point out the same thing - that you can’t impose your will upon readers of digital or web-based media. They’re going to read (and probably re-use) your content in ways that you likely haven’t thought of yet.