Everywhere I look these days, companies are trying to get me to sign up to paid subscriptions for their content. While I understand why subscriptions are needed, and I accept fully that companies need to make money from their content, I think the subscription model is oversold. I’m unlikely to pay for a subscription to the Japan Times just to read one article, no matter how good that article might be.

I have a number of subscriptions ongoing. I’m subscribed to The New York Times, The Irish Times, the Guardian and The Irish Examiner. I will readily pay for high quality, relevant content that I’m likely to dip into frequently. But I can’t, and won’t, subscribe to everything. There is a limit to what I can afford and ultimately it would feel like paying for services I am under-using.

Which is why I’m very happy I’ve discovered Readly. This is a content aggregator site that gives me access to hundreds of magazines and periodicals without me having to take out any more than a single subscription. I’m still paying for quality content, but I don’t have to subscribe separately. It’s exactly what a voracious reader like me needs.

Readly has a ton of good content available: from history to science to politics and sport. It also seems somewhat alone in its field: many comparable content aggregators are geographically limited or only cater for free RSS based content. I’m interested if there are other services like this.