<< But if a person has an ISP, why would they detour through AOL to get to the Internet, using proprietary email, a horrible newsreader, and AOL's Terms of Service? >>
Hey Art,
Hmm, if a person has an ISP they're happy with, I really doubt they'd use AOL to get to the net. They'd probably continue to use the ISP for reading mail, persusing usenet, and surfing the web. For $9.95 a month, they'd have access to AOL's unique content, some of which is a steal at that price:
1) Motley Fool
Much like Silicon Investor is for tech stocks, MF is an excellent resource for researching stocks/investing in general.
2) Company Research
"Where else can you get top quality investment facts and opinions from the countries leading information sources? Disclosure for electronically filed 10K and 10Q reports from the SEC, Morningstar for Stock Reports and Mutual Fund information, First Call for Earnings Estimates, and Prophet for Historical Quotes. Not to mention the liveliest Personal Finance message boards on AOL!" - propaganda on AOL
3) News profiles
Instead of searching all over the web for press releases/other news about companies I'm following, I add them to my news profiles. AOL scans all the wires (i.e. Associated Press, PR Newswire, Business Wire, etc.) and mails me the articles it finds.
4) Auditoriums
For instance, here are a few of the upcoming events/personalities:
11/03 Newt Gingrich 8pm
11/03 Business Week Online 9pm (every Sunday @ 9pm)
11/06 Sheena Easton 6pm
11/06 Stephanie Seymour 9pm
Granted, much of 2) you can find on the net, but it's pretty darn convenient having it all at your fingertips. After all, time is money. Hmm, or maybe not with the new pricing plan. ;-)
At any rate, I think 3) is worth $9.95 a month alone. But that's MHO, and I'm starting to sound like an AOL ad, so I'll stop now.
-Rich |
