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The AP has shown that it can, at least to some degree, keep up with the times.  Moreover, it can pick appropriate names.  The AP Member Marketplace has, you see, managed to attract over 500 newspapers.

The Marketplace is meant to facilitate the online sharing of content between papers.  Because it was launched on April 10th, hitting the 500-member mark so soon is something of an achievement.  Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium, by comparison, launched in November 2006 and now has ties to only 784 papers.

John Nelson, the Advocate-Messenger's executive editor, explained to Editor & Publisher that the AP Member Marketplace "give[s] us more ready access to stories that might interest our readers but not typically move across the wire."  Photos and graphics can move through the Marketplace, too.

The one problem with this growth development relates to the AP's explanation of what sounds like a good thing: "There is no cost for the Marketplace with a paid membership in The Associated Press."  So it seems like there's little reason for many more newspapers not to have joined the gathering.

Still, the AP's demonstrated that it can draw a reasonable following in the digital world, and that's all the more important in light of rumors surrounding the New York Sun's possible demise.