aPages: the new iPod?

Yo, Jeff Bezos, no reason you shouldn't benefit from my off–the–wall/mid–brain (I say mid–brain 'cause it's sure not left or right, that's for sure) thinking.

I read in this morning's papers that Amazon next year is going to begin selling access to individual books by the page, for as little as pennies.

Bezos told USA Today's Jefferson Graham, "We think this is a big deal."

He's right — but not for the reasons he thinks it's so important.

Rather, the ability to create a micro–payment system that's transparent to the user is the key that will unlock treasures not yet even imaginable, sooner than I expected to be streaming into any web–connected device anywhere in the world.

Among them, joeTV.

I found it most instructive, by the way, to observe how the four major U.S. newspapers played this story in today's editions.

The New York Times put in on the paper's front page — above the fold, under the picture of Lewis Libby (top).

The Wall Street Journal put it on the front page of one of its inside sections.

The Washington Post used an Associate Press feed rather than write its own story, then buried it inside the business section.

USA Today buried it on page 4 of its business section.

My rating of the four papers in terms of their websites, overall online usefulness and how well they "get" the internet:

1. New York Times

2. Wall Street Journal

3. Washington Post

4. USA Today

You can get a sense of their relative strengths from the way they handled this breaking news that, in the end, will make or break them in terms of how well they adapt to the fluid, rapidly accelerating transition from print to pixels.

This is not to say that even the Times has a passable website: it is dreadful — confusing, distracting, difficult to use and ugly.

Still, it's better than the others.