As the somewhat confusing New York Times paywall went up Monday, theoretically pushing readers toward new digital subscriptions, Amazon announced that Kindle subscribers will also get access to NYTimes.com for free — albeit not right away.

One of the oddities in the Timesdigital subscription pricing scheme is that there is no tier to subscribe only to the website — subscribe to any print or digital tier and you get the website for free.

Also omitted from the small spectrum of choices was any tier that also included the Kindle, which remains a separate $20-a-month proposition even if you are paying $35 every four weeks for what the Times calls its All Digital Access subscription level.

The evident commoditization of the website was a head scratcher for some (myself included), especially since the 20-story-a-month cutoff appears to be quite porous — referred links from Twitter, for example, don’t really count. And it didn’t take anyone long to realize that a $20, Sunday-only print subscription got you the website, as well as full access using the app on both the iPhone and iPad.

The New York Times is the best-selling subscription on Amazon, where the terms are set by the newspaper company. Amazon said it did not yet know when free online access would be available.

“The date for Kindle New York Times subscribers’ free online access is yet undetermined; subscribers will receive further communication via e-mail in the coming weeks,” Amazon said in a release.

I didn’t initially think that the Times‘ pricing schemes were off, but now I am beginning to wonder: If the website remains so accessible, and the website does in fact have All the News That’s Fit to Print, how much does the company stand to actually make from new digital subscriptions?

The publication is tempting you, however, with $1 introductory subscriptions for the first four weeks for all three tiers, a savings of as much as $34.

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