Sites include up to two years of archives, although some archives are counted in days and the Independent has none at all. Archive searching on the Internet can be slow and lacking in useful options such as limiting commands and Boolean search terms, especially on previous search sets. Most newspapers are available on CD-Rom with selective coverage. Costs vary, but tend to be expensive. There is an average of about six years archives.
Experience suggests difficulties in using multiple disk archives.
This format is never likely to offer much in the way of currency. CD-Rom offers facsimile versions of old stories, allowing discard of paper archives. All newspapers examined are available on FT Profile, less quickly than on the Internet, but quicker than on CD-Rom. Coverage is less full than on Internet, but selectivity has not been compared with CD-Rom versions. FT Profile offers no pictures or graphics, but is most useful for speed and sophisticated archive searching.