Do you have the same trouble walking through a mall, dealing with the different pricing structures and mixture of cash & credit at stores?

I really don't think it's much different.

Really? If the terms are clear at the point of sale and there is one central place to review all your purchases, what's the problem? This is a huge simplification of the normal publication methods (subscribe through this company, buy from that newsstand, get an app on all of these platforms) that I don't see how this is more complex.

I personally think trying to fit every type of publication in one hole is a much worse solution.