About time: the Times offers archives to its subscribers

The New York Times has announced that it will begin charging for folks to read some of their content, notably its popular columnists, on the Web. They also announced that print subscribers will have access to the new Times Select service for free, and that the service will include access to the Times' archives.

About time! I've thought they should do this for years. Those of us who pay hundreds per year to get the print paper deserve access to the archives. We've already paid for the content once. The kind of person who subscribes to the print Times is the kind of person who needs to look up that article from two weeks or two months or two years ago.

The Wall Street Journal paved the way for this years ago with its for-fee online edition. Naturally, the Google ad engine takes note: