Google has just unveiled a new system that allows you to subscribe to a digital newspaper with your Google Account. No longer will you have to manually register with each publication and deal with a myriad of passwords that require a special character and the two non-repeating numbers. The initiative is called Subscribe with Google and it seeks to eliminate many barriers.
Subscribe with Google lets you buy a subscription, using your Google account, on participating news sites. Select the publisher offer you’d like to buy, click “Subscribe,” and you’re done. You’ll automatically be signed in to the site, and you can pay–securely and privately—with any credit card you’ve used with Google in the past. From then on, you can then use “Sign In with Google” to access the publisher’s products, but Google does the billing, keeps your payment method secure, and makes it easy for you to manage your subscriptions all in one place.
Users who enroll in Google’s subscription service will also get the added benefit of seeing content from their chosen publications highlighted in a dedicated module when searching for things on Google. The reasoning is pretty straightforward, as Google says, “Paying for a subscription is a clear indication that you value and trust your subscribed publication as a source.”
Before Google does a global roll out they are only working with specific publishers to work out the kinks. This includes Les Échos, Fairfax Media, Le Figaro, the Financial Times, Gatehouse Media, Grupo Globo, The Mainichi, McClatchy, La Nación, The New York Times, NRC Media, Le Parisien, Reforma, la Republica, The Telegraph, USA TODAY NETWORK andThe Washington Post—with more publishers coming soon.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.