Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Personally, I don't know what the big deal is. Novels have ads in them now... I never hear anyone complain, or return a book, or throw it on the ground in irritation, because it has an ad in it. (Usually it's just an ad for more books from the author or publisher, in the same vein as the book purchased, so it's generally the kind of ad people want to see.)
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I suspect the worry is that ebooks could contain web-style ads: blinky things, flash movies, distracting content that bounces around the screen, and things like that. Or DVD-style ads: you must watch this ad before you can flip the page to start reading... every time you open the ebook.
I don't mind a half-page ad near the beginning of a book, and an excerpt or ad for other books at the end. I could tolerate a SMALL, UNOBTRUSIVE blurb ad at major section breaks of a book. But anything more than that--extra page per chapter for ads, or animated ads, or (shudder) dymanic ads that re-downloaded themselves on a regular basis... no. I'd (1) seek the book elsewhere, possibly including pirate locations, and (2) support the development of ad-stripping procedures, including time-consuming screencapture options.
If publishers start to think of ebooks like "magazines with single-topic contents," and plaster ads throughout to "offset the costs," they're going to discover that their ebook customers will resent being treated like a pair of eyeballs for hire when they were trying to enjoy their leisure time.