NY Times online to stop charging

The New York Times has announced that as of midnight tonight it will stop charging for content that it started charging for two years ago. The NYT has been noticably irresolute about its Times Select online service. It began as a paid subscription that was free to print subscribers, but then the Times began to give free access to college students and educators. Now the Times reports that "in addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free." Removing the subscription barrier will open the website to traffic directed by search engines and the paper says the increased traffic and resulting increased ad revenues will more than make up for any lost subscription revenues.