TimesSelect, the controversial subscription based service from the New York Times, was finally dropped yesterday after years of complaining from people who didn’t see the point of paying extra for this service. What frustrated people further was the fact that NYTimes hid most of their respected columnists behind this walled garden which made it very difficult to get access to all content that appeared in the paper.

This is the email they sent out to TimesSelect readers yesterday:

Dear NYTimes.com Readers:

Effective Sept. 19, we are ending TimesSelect. All of our online readers will now be able to read Times columnists, access our archives back to 1987 and enjoy many other TimesSelect features that have been added over the last two years – free.

If you are a paying TimesSelect subscriber, you will receive a prorated refund. We will send you an e-mail on Wednesday, Sept. 19 with full details.

Why the change?

Since we launched TimesSelect in 2005, the online landscape has altered significantly. Readers increasingly find news through search, as well as through social networks, blogs and other online sources. In light of this shift, we believe offering unfettered access to New York Times reporting and analysis best serves the interest of our readers, our brand and the long-term vitality of our journalism. We encourage everyone to read our news and opinion – as well as share it, link to it and comment on it.

We welcome all online readers to enjoy the popular and powerful voices that have defined Times commentary – Maureen Dowd, Thomas L. Friedman, Frank Rich, Gail Collins, Paul Krugman, David Brooks, Bob Herbert and Nicholas D. Kristof. And we invite them to become acquainted with our exclusive online journalism – columns by Stanley Fish, Maira Kalman, Dick Cavett and Judith Warner; the Opinionator blog; and guest forums by scientists, musicians and soldiers on the frontlines in Iraq. All this will now reach a broader audience in the United States and around the world.

This month we mark the 156th anniversary of the first issue of The New York Times. Our long, distinguished history is rooted in a commitment to innovation, experimentation and constant change. All three themes were plainly evident in the skillful execution of TimesSelect; they will be on full display as NYTimes.com becomes entirely open.

Sincerely,

Vivian Schiller
Senior Vice President & General Manager
NYTimes.com

And what’s the lesson here folks?

Business models taken from a print environment hardly ever migrate successfully to an online medium and hiding your content behind subscription gateways is generally a bad call as we’ve seen in the case of TimesSelect.

UPDATE: There’s a good extension of this discussion on Jay Rosen’s Pressthink blog