Another way to think about it is that up till now, if you had subscribed to The Atlantic, you would have got him + a bunch of other writers in the bundle. To me, what the a-la-carte model has revealed is what media-savvy people had always said it would reveal: a bunch of individual writers who all want me to pay $70 a year to get their periodic newsletter updates.

"If only my five favorites would get together and do something collectively, I'd pay $100 a year," I thought to myself. "And I'd bet they'd get vastly more subscribers and come out way ahead."

Whoever said there are only two business models, bundling and un-bundling, seems to be right, as far as I can tell. I'm looking forward to the next bundling cycle.