The Daily News always has posted only part of its print content online. The Web site now provides teaser headlines and a sentence or two that link to a page with subscription rates for the e-version, which is offered as a PDF replica of the print edition.

“Why should we work for free,” McQueen said. “I’ve never understood the philosophy of giving it away for free.”

Brad Tooley, publisher of The Canyon News, agrees. The semiweekly last year decided to make its Web site canyonnews.com a subscription based e-version offered as a PDF. The move so far has netted 60 e-subscribers, up from 40 two months ago.

“The only downside has been a few whiners who e-mail me that ‘The Internet is supposed to be free,’” Tooley said. “I e-mail them back and ask them what business they are in that they give their product away. I explain that it helps pay for the operation of our newspaper so that we may continue to publish the best news product possible. I have never had one e-mail me back after that.”

Tooley said the semiweekly was one of the first community newspapers on the Web beginning in 1997 and for years gave people only a sampling of the print newspaper by linking about six stories per edition, plus a column and editorial.

The weekly Mount Vernon Optic-Herald converted its Web site www.mt-vernon.com to a subscription based online version about a year ago. Publisher Pat Wright said the PDF e-version is free to print subscribers and of the approximately 200 people registered for it about 98 percent are current subscribers.

“It’s gratifying that so many people still want to hold (the newspaper). They want to see it,” Wright said.

The Optic-Herald does post pending funeral notices with free access on its Web site and plans to add more teasers to the online version.

The Copperas Cove Leader-Press also this summer launched a subscription PDF online version.

“We’re going to target it to out-of-town people as a way to get the paper the day it comes out instead of in a week (or two weeks, or three weeks) later,” Publisher Larry Hauk said.

Daily Digital Replicas

Two dailies were the first newspapers in Texas to begin true digital replica e-versions as an alternative for subscribers.

The Austin American-Statesman launched an e-version in January 2003 through the Austin-based company NewsStand, which also produces e-versions for Texas Monthly, USA Today and The New York Times and recently signed up the Houston Chronicle.

Harry Davis, American-Statesman vice president of circulation, said the e-version has not attracted as many users as anticipated — only 190 users subscribe every day and four to five single-copy readers buy the e-version on average per day.

NewsStand recently added a Web-based module and Macintosh compatability to its reader software service. Davis said the American-Statesman likely would begin to promote the e-version again now that those improvements have been made.

The Monitor in McAllen launched its e-version in November 2002 and has attracted about 300 paid subscribers, said Matt Crocker, vice president of the Monitor’s Internet arm MyRGV.com.

The daily still provides main content free on its Web site but Crocker said the long-range plan calls for limiting free content and implementing user registration.

User Registration

Many Texas newspapers, including Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.’s 14 dailies and two weeklies, also have begun adding user registration to their free Web sites.

Registration requires a user to provide personal information before gaining access to content on a Web site. Most Texas newspapers that have implemented Web registration require an e-mail address, name and address while others also ask for date of birth, gender, family income and whether the user is a current print subscriber.

The Athens Daily Review started user registration in mid-July on athensreview.com and was surprised to learn that 80 to 90 percent of the initial registrants are outside the Athens area and not current subscribers, publisher Bill Morgan said.

“We’re just trying to get information that will be useful down the road as marketing tools,” Morgan said.

The Facts in Clute also implemented Web user registration in July at thefacts.com. Registered users who opt-in will receive e-mail updates on breaking news and stories.

User registration allows the newspaper to learn who is accessing their Web site so content can be tailored to the users’ needs.

The Dallas Morning News is a pioneer in Web user registration and as of Aug. 1 has registered 2,063,330 unique users since first requiring it in May 2001.

Of those registered at dallasnews.com, only 12 percent are print subscribers, said Lisa Leet, spokesperson for Belo Interactive, the Internet subsidiary of the News’ parent company.

The majority of the News’ site requires a one-time registration but classifieds are free.

The Houston Chronicle’s www.chron.com also has registration but users can view up to nine stories without being prompted to register. Public affairs manager Emily Cohen said the “threshold model” improves access and data management.

“This allows less frequent visitors to still have the opportunity to sample the site, and it helps our system better manage the information being gathered,” Cohen said.

“Registration helps us better understand our customers, and the information collected from visitors will allow us to better tailor the editorial and advertising content to their interests.”

Web user registration is catching on nationwide. According to an April 2004 Nielsen/NetRatings, The New York Times’ nytimes.com has 9.3 million users, The Washington Post’s washingtonpost.com has 5.2 million, The Wall Street Journal’s wsj.com has 3.4 million and Los Angeles Times’ latimes.com has 2.8 million.