PaidContent points to a WSJ.com piece reporting that The New York Times is polling readers to determine whether or not they'll spring $50 annually to have access to its story morgue. In one model, subscribers would pay about $50 for unlimited access. The other model would give access to 100 stories per month.

NYT.com currently charges almost three dollars per archives article. Earlier NYT.com plans, as reported by Newsday, indicated the newspaper would try to charge about $15 per month for archives access.

The Times may hope to avoid hobbling its hugely successful ad revenue generation efforts on its online edition by charging for archives only. But it is also rather likely that few normal readers would bother paying a set fee for archives that many will not perceive they need.