Anyone got AutoSport Plus?
Discussion
I've been a Plus member for a few years now. Without it you can only access (if I recall correctly) 10 full articles a month. I enjoy full access and visit the site at least twice a day to catch up, so for me it was a no-brainer. Also I can access the jobs/employment section.
The printed version was getting pretty awful, TBH I don't think many people will notice it has gone. If they sell more than three copies a week at eleven quid I'd be surprised. In the 70s/80s/90s it was unmissable on a Thursday morning, but this is definitely one case where the internet has killed printed media.
The printed version was getting pretty awful, TBH I don't think many people will notice it has gone. If they sell more than three copies a week at eleven quid I'd be surprised. In the 70s/80s/90s it was unmissable on a Thursday morning, but this is definitely one case where the internet has killed printed media.
generationx said:
I've been a Plus member for a few years now. Without it you can only access (if I recall correctly) 10 full articles a month. I enjoy full access and visit the site at least twice a day to catch up, so for me it was a no-brainer. Also I can access the jobs/employment section.
The printed version was getting pretty awful, TBH I don't think many people will notice it has gone. If they sell more than three copies a week at eleven quid I'd be surprised. In the 70s/80s/90s it was unmissable on a Thursday morning, but this is definitely one case where the internet has killed printed media.
It's been back to it's old price for the last couple of weeks. The printed version was getting pretty awful, TBH I don't think many people will notice it has gone. If they sell more than three copies a week at eleven quid I'd be surprised. In the 70s/80s/90s it was unmissable on a Thursday morning, but this is definitely one case where the internet has killed printed media.
designndrive62 said:
I got to motorsport.com it's the same owner company, same articles but no limit on how many you can view. the only ones youc ant view are the 'premium' articles which tend to be reviews of the year or something like that etc.
A lot of the Plus stuff is specific to Autosport though and isn't reviews. Motorsport.com often have similar sounding articles but they are a fraction of the length. Biggest issue for me with motorsport.com is the layout of the site and comments. Seems to be aimed at app users as it's a mess on a desktop.Have to be honest I find it perfectly easy to use on a desktop, I will never pay for online mags that are basically processing press releases.
Each to their own of course, but there will always be a free versions of anything, and the way AS and their owners handled things recently will and has cost them a lot of support.
Each to their own of course, but there will always be a free versions of anything, and the way AS and their owners handled things recently will and has cost them a lot of support.
My view couldn't be more opposite. I will always pay for people to be able to do their jobs. Autosport Plus is a very, very long way from recycling press releases so I don't know were you get that idea.
Where does it end if everyone expects everything for free? More and more people use adblockers now so there's less revenue generated that way.
Where does it end if everyone expects everything for free? More and more people use adblockers now so there's less revenue generated that way.
I am obviously the opposite, i use adblocker and if a site tells me to turn it off I remove it from faves or never use it again. It is also using my data to troll my browsing experience, that is what adblocker is part of, preventing that.
Fair enough paying for people to do their jobs, but this is a special interest thing, and they did it a long time ago and still sold a magazine I have no interest in that, I want certain things from a site and if I can it find it there I will go somewhere else.
Kind of explains why they did what they did recently to try and stop people buying the mag and force people into online, and then to expect people to fork out three times the price, frankly if you are still using them after that, I am happy with my morals thankyou.
Fair enough paying for people to do their jobs, but this is a special interest thing, and they did it a long time ago and still sold a magazine I have no interest in that, I want certain things from a site and if I can it find it there I will go somewhere else.
Kind of explains why they did what they did recently to try and stop people buying the mag and force people into online, and then to expect people to fork out three times the price, frankly if you are still using them after that, I am happy with my morals thankyou.
Reading between the lines of some of the comments I think some people don't realise what Autosport Plus is. It's not just unlocking the site so you can read more of the free articles before hitting the limit. It's far more in-depth articles on all sort of motorsport, statistics, track guides etc etc.
mattikake said:
No.
Everytime autosport tells me I need to be a subscriber to read their article, I just go and read the news story on another site.
Business model of a dead organisation imo.
So what happens when the other sites don't have places to steal their articles from? The vast majority of F1 "news" sites just recycle the information that they get from newspapers and F1 magazines. Online newspapers that don't have a subscription model have just turned into buzzword factories churning out any old garbage that gets people riled up so they will comment and keep the page views up. That's not journalism and that's the way everything will go eventually if people expect it all for "free".Everytime autosport tells me I need to be a subscriber to read their article, I just go and read the news story on another site.
Business model of a dead organisation imo.
ceesvdelst said:
i use adblocker and if a site tells me to turn it off I remove it from faves or never use it again
Kind of explains why they did what they did recently to try and stop people buying the mag and force people into online, and then to expect people to fork out three times the price, frankly if you are still using them after that, I am happy with my morals thankyou.
Interesting take on morals there. You see it as immoral for a magazine to raise it's prices to cover a dwindling user base (a decision that they've since reversed by the way) but you don't see it as immoral to use a site by blocking the method it uses to pay for the content you're reading?Kind of explains why they did what they did recently to try and stop people buying the mag and force people into online, and then to expect people to fork out three times the price, frankly if you are still using them after that, I am happy with my morals thankyou.
Ad revenue only works if people click on the ads?
Isn't that obvious? I don't think I have ever clicked on an ad on any website to be honest. They just annoy me so I use adblocker and contribute as it makes my life surfing, streaming and the like far easier.
And frankly, increasing costs from 4 quid a week to over a tenner, who really thinks that was anything other than an attempt to force closure and push people online.
The owners behaviour recently is despicable and even if I was someone who bought the magazine (obviously I am not, it's overpriced and wafer thin for the cost) I would have stopped buying, clicking on principle after what they did, and I am not alone apparently.
But clearly the market is still there, somehow.
Isn't that obvious? I don't think I have ever clicked on an ad on any website to be honest. They just annoy me so I use adblocker and contribute as it makes my life surfing, streaming and the like far easier.
And frankly, increasing costs from 4 quid a week to over a tenner, who really thinks that was anything other than an attempt to force closure and push people online.
The owners behaviour recently is despicable and even if I was someone who bought the magazine (obviously I am not, it's overpriced and wafer thin for the cost) I would have stopped buying, clicking on principle after what they did, and I am not alone apparently.
But clearly the market is still there, somehow.
MissChief said:
I signed up for the year and have read a few articles already. For £20 it seems a decent deal.
I often take a look at Autosport but I’d never pay as think the content is low quality BUT maybe if they gave me a free browse I’d have see what I’m missing and subscribe, used to subscribe to the paper copy for many years but the content just dropped off to such a low level I just stopped. Is the online plus content any good? MissChief said:
I signed up for the year and have read a few articles already. For £20 it seems a decent deal.
I often take a look at Autosport but I’d never pay as think the content is low quality BUT maybe if they gave me a free browse I’d have see what I’m missing and subscribe, used to subscribe to the paper copy for many years but the content just dropped off to such a low level I just stopped. Is the online plus content any good? Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff