Finally, Services Worth Paying For

$10 for this, $20 for that--maybe there's too much good stuff out there.

I recall a time--call it 1990 or thereabouts--when the only service a smart PC user needed to pay for was a CompuServe account. Then the Web came along, and for a while there were more free Net-based services than you could shake a mouse at. And today? Welcome to the age of online and technology services that you actually might be willing to pay for.

For instance, Staff Editor Liane Cassavoy's "ISPs Promote Premium Extras" examines an array of services that ISPs are hawking, from antivirus protection to Net accelerators; some of the deals are worth a look. Elsewhere, our reviewer (who happens to be me) tries a new version of GoToMyPC, the slick remote-access service that lets you connect to your work system from any browser-equipped PC.

In "Well-Connected Handhelds," edited by Associate Editor Alexandra Krasne, we field-test phone/PDA hybrids such as the Sony Ericsson P800; buy one of these next-generation handhelds, and you'll rack up monthly charges for data transfers as well as for talk time. And in "Online Music: New Hits and Misses," Eric Dahl, associate editor and music maven, auditions seven music services and finds at least two that deserve a listen.

Temptations and Pitfalls

It's not strictly PC-related tech services that are increasingly tempting: I know multiple folks who cheerfully fork over a monthly service fee for a ReplayTV or TiVo digital video recorder. Me, I'm flirting with paying $10 or so per month for satellite car radio from Sirius or XM.

Though attractive paid services are on the rise, the field continues to have plenty of problems. Many services still aren't worth your time and money. And even the best ones aren't all things to all people: GoToMyPC is a terrific tool on a desktop or notebook system, but an eye-numbing frustration on a Pocket PC.

How do you tell the good from the bad? Start by taking advantage of no-cost trial periods. And even if your test-drive is a happy one, be careful about commitment. If you sign up for more than a few offerings, you could spend more each month for these technoluxuries than for necessities like electricity or car insurance.

Still, I'm betting the service fun has just begun, so I'll wrap up with three things that I'd like to see service companies do. Positive responses to these unsolicited requests would persuade more buyers--or at least this one--to welcome a fee-based future with an open wallet.

Give us discounts: Services should let us sign up for a year at a reduced rate, as GoToMyPC and others already do. Then there's the ReplayTV/TiVo approach, which gives the buyer the option to pay one chunk of change and get service for a lifetime (sadly, the device's life, not the buyer's).

Let us pay as we go: As much as I like online music, I'm not quite ready to commit $10 or $15 a month to it. That's why Apple's ITunes is so alluring: It charges 99 cents per track, period. (Too bad it's Mac-only at the moment; we Windows types will remain deprived until later this year.)

Help us out: Just like hardware or software, services need top-notch tech support. So far, though, I've been more disappointed than impressed. For example, I'd love to use AT&T's GSM service to handle wireless data on my Palm Tungsten T, but I'm still puzzling over whether it's possible--and AT&T's maddeningly terse Web site hasn't helped.

What's your take on fee-based services? Shoot me a message at mageditor@pcworld.com and let me know if you're signing up or holding tight.

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Harry McCracken is editor of PC World.