[dreams]

Just saw this interesting little post....

Amazon applying for in-book advertisement patent for Kindle

by Devin Coldewey on July 4, 2009


http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/04...nt-for-kindle/

Before everyone gets in a huff, let’s consider Amazon’s intentions with these patent applications. Surely they would never allow advertisements to be placed in books which you have purchased legitimately at full price, so let’s put that out of our heads. But what if you could take a few bucks off the cover price at the cost of a few contextual ads relating (if possible) to the book’s content? Personally, I wouldn’t mind — partially because I don’t use a Kindle or intend to any time soon, but more because it’s a no-lose situation. Amazon wouldn’t risk alienating its loyal Kindle base with dirty tricks like this, so it’s safe to assume it’ll be at least somewhat opt-in.

An abundance of free or reduced-price content would widen the appeal of the reader — I imagine many people are put off e-books by the idea that they are not getting their money’s worth. As offensive as the idea of inserting ads into a book is to me (and surely to the average reader), it’s almost certainly part of a value proposition which increases the utility of these expensive little buggers.

The wording of the patent requests also includes the language “in response to a consumer request for content,” which could probably be massaged into referring to downloaded books that have been paid for, but more easily fits streamed or dynamically generated stuff like news or Google Books content. There’s also talk of including the ad in printed versions of said content, which bothers me a bit more than the other part. At any rate, I’m convinced that advertisements are unlikely to appear in the kinds of books and publications you’re paying full price for right now, so if this is ever implemented, you’ll probably (hopefully) be able to read your Vanity Fair unmolested.

Added 7-5-09 11:55 pm

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/07/...Ads-Into-Books

Patent application links are listed below..

theodp writes "Three Amazon inventors set out to correct what they felt was a real problem: that 'out-of-print or rare books ... typically do not include advertisements ... the content is fixed and, therefore, has not been adapted to modern marketing.' Their solution is spelled out in newly-disclosed Amazon patent applications for On-Demand Generating E-Book Content with Advertising (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...DN/20090171751)and Incorporating Advertising in On-Demand Generated Content (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...DN/20090171750
).
From the patent apps, here's what the future of reading may look like: 'For instance, if a restaurant is described on page 12, [then the advertising page], either on page 11 or page 13, may include advertisements about restaurants, wine, food, etc., which are related to restaurants and dining.' So, what would a delightfully-tacky-yet-unrefined Hooters ad do for your Hemingway experience?"

Edit July 6th 11:55

Trying to understand the patents listed in my links made my eyes cross

Here is another blurb.. I love the picture...
http://techgeist.net/2009/07/amazon-...-kindle-books/

Amazon Wants To Put Ads Into Kindle Books?
By Michael Klurfeld on July 4, 2009

You know what my favorite part of Moby Dick was? The part where I realized I wanted a Klondike bar. That experience may be expedited in the future, courtesy of an Amazon patent for a technology which would dynamically insert ads into e-books. And get this: the ads would be context sensitive. “For instance, if a restaurant is described on page 12, [then the advertising page], either on page 11 or page 13, may include advertisements about restaurants, wine, food, etc., which are related to restaurants and dining.”

What’s so annoying about this is that Amazon presumably wants to put ads into books to be read on the Kindle, as that is the e-book market they’re desperately trying to push right now. We can probably all agree that ads in stuff we’ve paid for is quite annoying, and doubly so when we’ve gotten use to experiencing whatever it is without ads.

But Amazon isn’t stupid. It could be that Amazon is trying to use advertisements to profit off of books they would allow users to read on the Kindle for free. If they let you download a full book in Kindle format under public domain, for example, they could monetize serving up that content by inserting an ad. Though it would definitely make the reading experience somewhat annoying, ads would be a negligible price to pay for millions of free reads at one’s fingertips.