Prudently, the leadership at your local FREE weekly paper ( the leaders name is Bob) waited a good long while to make certain that this World Wide Web thing is more than a fad.  He has recently become relatively convinced (after seeing an I Pad,) that there may well be something to this Interweb after all.

On one hand, Bob just loves newspapers. After all these years, he still loves the idea of a FREE paper --no cost to you, no restrictions on saying what needs to be said, and no chains binding the paper to anything,  He still gets stupid giddy when he sees the Reader stands empty, spies someone stopping to look at a cover, or even when he sees a Reader in the trash wrapped around clementine peels. He loves the print, the smell of it, the mess of it, the old fashioned roll of the presses in the dark.  He likes to think of himself as a newspaper man, hunting down a story like a hound dog, with a pencil and clipped phrases, saving the city.

On the other hand, he really likes the thought of living in this century, providing a place online for the Reader to do cool stuff, like list entertainment, sell stuff, and show off stuff.

So, after looking at both his hands for a long time, Bob decided to keep both of them in play. He figured out something that might work to keep the Reader free and worthy on the street for all, and put the Reader free and worthy on line, but keep them separate, distinct, and evenhanded.

He decided that only the print Reader would include all the columns and news you have come to love for free.  The new Reader website will include SOME of the news and columns you have come to know for free.  And, for a small fee, you can join as a Reader member on line and get it all plus some secret free stuff and cool promotions and treasures.

Check out the Beta version of our site.  Tell Bob what works and what doe not even come close to working well.  Tell Bob what to do. You have no idea how many folk would love to do just that.