MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Ad-Supported Kindle?

Worldwalker · 04-16-2011, 10:47 AM

I'm wondering if the difference between the pro-ad and anti-ad people is the whole connectivity thing in the first place.

I have a Sony 505. It doesn't have WiFi, doesn't have 3G, doesn't connect to anything without a cable, and basically works like a paper book (or 2,500 paper books). As has been mentioned in the WiFi thread, there are some people who want exactly that: an ebook reader that doesn't try to be a tablet, that just displays the books they already own. And there are people with Kindles, etc., with WiFi, 3G, or some other means of connecting to the Internet and to the company bookstore. They not only display books, they let you buy books, check your email, and whatever else; they're quasi-tablets. I think there's a mental distinction between "electronic book" and "multi-use device which can function as an electronic book." When a device lets you visit the company store and buy more books, it's starting to move into category 2. When you can check your email, read MobileRead, etc., it's firmly into category 2. (when ebook reading is only a small and somewhat under-supported part of what it can do, you've got an iPad)

So the category 1 fans aren't going to want something that's in category 2 because it's breaking the whole idea of "just like a pbook" that is why they have an ebook reader in the first place. That's why they don't buy Kindles or iPads. Pushing ads to them, no matter how good the deals offered, is a solidly category 2 thing, and they're not interested.

Take me: I think the deals sound great. I want in on a few of them. But I want them in my email, to be responded to via my computer, not on my ebook reader. My PC is my communications hub, and I want my 505 to be about books, not about ads.

So, basically, we have two types of people here -- I'll call them book people and tablet people, for convenience -- and it's no more likely that book people will suddenly become tablet people than that tablet people will suddenly become book people. It's two different areas of focus, two different sets of needs for a device, and therefore two different responses to the matter of a Kindle with built-in ads.

04-16-2011, 10:47 AM	#159
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	I'm wondering if the difference between the pro-ad and anti-ad people is the whole connectivity thing in the first place. I have a Sony 505. It doesn't have WiFi, doesn't have 3G, doesn't connect to anything without a cable, and basically works like a paper book (or 2,500 paper books). As has been mentioned in the WiFi thread, there are some people who want exactly that: an ebook reader that doesn't try to be a tablet, that just displays the books they already own. And there are people with Kindles, etc., with WiFi, 3G, or some other means of connecting to the Internet and to the company bookstore. They not only display books, they let you buy books, check your email, and whatever else; they're quasi-tablets. I think there's a mental distinction between "electronic book" and "multi-use device which can function as an electronic book." When a device lets you visit the company store and buy more books, it's starting to move into category 2. When you can check your email, read MobileRead, etc., it's firmly into category 2. (when ebook reading is only a small and somewhat under-supported part of what it can do, you've got an iPad) So the category 1 fans aren't going to want something that's in category 2 because it's breaking the whole idea of "just like a pbook" that is why they have an ebook reader in the first place. That's why they don't buy Kindles or iPads. Pushing ads to them, no matter how good the deals offered, is a solidly category 2 thing, and they're not interested. Take me: I think the deals sound great. I want in on a few of them. But I want them in my email, to be responded to via my computer, not on my ebook reader. My PC is my communications hub, and I want my 505 to be about books, not about ads. So, basically, we have two types of people here -- I'll call them book people and tablet people, for convenience -- and it's no more likely that book people will suddenly become tablet people than that tablet people will suddenly become book people. It's two different areas of focus, two different sets of needs for a device, and therefore two different responses to the matter of a Kindle with built-in ads.