cnet News is reporting that Amazon is filing patents for advertising in the Kindle. The patents vary a bit from inserting ads into free or discounted books (with the purchase of the physical book” to inserting ads in books themselves.
The patents outline the possibility of having ads inserted every few pages to inserting ads in the margins of the book. As someone who enjoys reading and is considering a Kindle, I find this a bit discouraging.
I enjoy getting lost in a book. I like to immerse myself in a book deeply enough that I forget how much time has passed as I am reading. Books serve as one of the last few refuges from the incessant advertising that proliferate throughout every other form of media. If they simply insert ads into books, I won’t buy a Kindle.But it could get interesting.
Perhaps the biggest complaint about the Kindle is the price tag. Most people seem to love the device, but at $299, it’s a difficult expense to justify if you don’t have a lot of cash laying around. Rumors have been floating around that newspaper companies may decide to subsidize the device in exchange for a commitment to subscribe for a predetermined time, similar to the way mobile phones are subsidized now in exchange for a service contract. An ad supported model could change the game significantly, and get a Kindle in a lot more hands.
Ads might allow them to get very competitive with pricing for both the device and the actual content. A Kindle priced at $99 would be a no brainer for those of us that read a lot. Even at $299, if you could get an entire book for $3, it might be worth it.
As things stand though, I am not ready for advertising to seep into any other avenue in my life. Its difficult enough to avoid it now. In books? No thanks.
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