JONATHAN WILSON,
Sir, - For me, one of the great joys of being on the Internet means I can read literally thousands of newspapers from around the world. Amongst my favourites are The Irish Times, The Times, the New York Times, the Australian, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily News (Zimbabwe), the Belfast Telegraph, the New Zealand Herald, the Brazilian, Le Monde - the list is endless and foreign language papers can be translated at the touch of a button if necessary.
I have never understood how these can be provided free of charge, but free they are. I will not be rushing to pay for The Irish Times online, not because it isn't a good newspaper, but because the competition online is all free of charge. It will be fascinating to see how many people sign up and pay the new ireland.com charges, and my guess is that the lack of numbers paying will undermine the viability of the service as any advertising and potential advertising revenue will be minimal unless the number of subscribers is significant. - Yours, etc.,
JONATHAN WILSON, Milltown, Dublin.