January Reader Responses & Potpourri

By Jim on January 28th, 2010

I’ve gotten quite a few comments since I started writing for ET again, so I thought I’d take one column per month and address some of them. And I’ve also included a few potpourri items about current technology events that are interesting, but might not warrant a full column of their own.

So let’s start with some reader responses from my last few columns.

ballin_shogun writes about the “Quiet! I’m Trying to Read!” column:

“For a guy who likes things quiet your website (jimlynch.com) has a lots of garish colorfull ads. I enjoy reading your columns and I’m glad you are getting paid for your work but you can’t have it both ways. Garish ads enable good writers like yourself to stay in business and one can only assume that similar ads on ereaders will enable other new talent to blossom.”

Good point. But it’s generally expected to have advertisements on Web sites, because advertising is the main business model for the Web. Yes, there are a few subscription sites like the Wall Street Journal, but most sites sustain themselves via advertising revenue.

eBooks, on the other hand, are bought up front for a particular amount. Usually it’s about $10 or so if you buy from Amazon’s store. Once you buy the book, it should not be necessary at all for you to have to deal with advertisements.

If the Web business model changes (as some publications like the New York Times are trending towards) and readers have to pay for a subscription to read content, then I think it would be fair to complain about ads showing up on Web sites.

rifernan, writing about the same column, had this to say:

“I experienced similar outrage when movie theaters forced me to sit through advertisements, not for future movies but for products. I’d paid an admission. It was tantamount to being forced to watch commercials on a premium cable channel. Apparently my outrage didn’t count for much. I suspect that the same will happen when my downloaded ebook is interrupted by a distracting ad. I’ll fume and fuss but nothing will change. So it goes.”

I totally agree that ads being jammed down the throat of viewers at a movie theater is unacceptable. It’s one of the reasons I don’t bother going to movies very much these days unless it’s something exceptional like The Lord of the Rings. Most films aren’t worth paying for in the first place, and I certainly don’t want to sit through 20 minutes of ads just to watch a crappy movie.

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