Ars Technica is promoting its ArsPro subscription, highlighting long-standing subscriber perks like PDF versions of every article and full-text RSS feeds for reading outside the browser.
<p>When Ars launched in 1998, there was one way to read it: in a web browser on a PC (or Mac). Your screen of choice was either some massive CRT or a very expensive LCD monitor (or, in my case, the less-expensive grayscale, passive-matrix LCD on a PowerBook). Either way, it was butt in chair, chair at desk.</p>
<p>One of the first perks we offered subscribers way back at the turn of the millennium allowed them to read Ars without a browser. Articles were available as formatted PDF files, so you could print out John Siracusa's<a href="https://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/4q00/macosx-pb1/macos-x-beta-1.html"> Mac OS X Public Beta review</a> and read it on the subway or build your own searchable archive of your curated Ars content. Another option was full-text RSS feeds—instead of getting a two-paragraph summary, subscribers could browse Ars in their favorite RSS reader.</p>
<p>It's 2026, and while screens have proliferated in size and portability, ArsPro subscribers still get PDFs of every article and full-text RSS feeds, because sometimes the web isn't always the ideal place to read the web.</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/10/make-ars-better-with-an-arspro-subscription/">Read full article</a></p>
<p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/10/make-ars-better-with-an-arspro-subscription/#comments">Comments</a></p>
# Support Ars and get a better reading experience in return
Source: [https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/10/make-ars-better-with-an-arspro-subscription/](https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/10/make-ars-better-with-an-arspro-subscription/)
When Ars launched in 1998, there was one way to read it: in a web browser on a PC \(or Mac\)\. Your screen of choice was either some massive CRT or a very expensive LCD monitor \(or, in my case, the less\-expensive grayscale, passive\-matrix LCD on a PowerBook\)\. Either way, it was butt in chair, chair at desk\.
One of the first perks we offered subscribers way back at the turn of the millennium allowed them to read Ars without a browser\. Articles were available as formatted PDF files, so you could print out John Siracusa’s[Mac OS X Public Beta review](https://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/4q00/macosx-pb1/macos-x-beta-1.html)and read it on the subway or build your own searchable archive of your curated Ars content\. Another option was full\-text RSS feeds—instead of getting a two\-paragraph summary, subscribers could browse Ars in their favorite RSS reader\.
It’s 2026, and while screens have proliferated in size and portability, ArsPro subscribers still get PDFs of every article and full\-text RSS feeds, because sometimes the web isn’t always the ideal place to read the web\.
Ars Technica highlights its community forums where readers can engage in discussions on hardware, operating systems, and software beyond article comment sections.
A technical blog post argues that Atom is technically superior to RSS, particularly in title encoding semantics, and encourages preferring Atom over RSS for web feeds.
LWN announces a 20% subscription price increase starting September 15 due to inflation, aiming to sustain independent coverage and enhance site features while thanking readers for support.
The author built feedpaper, a macOS tool that converts RSS feeds into an e-pub 'newspaper' for a pocket e-ink reader, helping them read blogs away from their phone.