Is There Even a Market for an Online Print Newsstand?

(MoneyWatch)  As news reports increasingly point to major magazine publishers announcing their rumored online newsstand within weeks, one thing seems to be missing: whether a market in which consumers would pay for e-reader versions of magazine content even exists.

The New York Times, in a story last week, has become the latest to dole out sketchy details of the plan. It says that publishers including Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith are planning to sign onto the venture, that would offer e-content on platforms including the iPhone, Blackberry, and e-book readers. (Fortunately, the Times story makes no mention of a proprietary device being added to our already lengthy list of screens, which would be a direct route to disaster.) The hope is that consumers -- who've shown no interest thus far in paying for magazine content online -- will do so in these new forms.

What a crock.

Sorry for the heavy dose of skepticism, but, assuming this whole idea has been advanced by those envious of the Kindle, they've forgotten one thing: that, until the Kindle came along, there weren't really digital platforms on which to read books. The publishing industry, with a boost from Amazon, has converted to digital via a paid model. The magazine industry (and the newspaper industry, too), isn't so lucky. As long as magazines are still giving their content away for free on another digital platform, consumers will read it where it's free -- especially as netbooks become more nimble rivals to smaller digital devices than the old-fashioned laptop. Zinio, which has long been in the business of creating print-like digital versions of magazine content, is said to be reproducing some titles for the iPhone. Given the size of the iPhone's screen, can you imagine a more miserable experience?

The only way for magazines to get people to pay for digital content is essentially by reinventing it, and that's a tall order that they are only just now beginning to work on. I wish that this online newsstand idea was going to take flight, but somehow, I doubt it.

Previously on BNET Media:

• New Print Alliance Getting Ready For War -- A Decade Too Late