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Ads in the iTunes and Podcasts?

iTunes=Aggregator

iTunes for Podcasts is nothing but an aggregator with a directory. Apple should not mess with the content (especially without consent) of something produced by non-affiliated podcasts.

By inserting ads automatically it give the appearance that the podcaster has "endorsed" the product being pushed. Ask Adam Curry if he'd appreciate that; Pod2Mob did some similar ad placing before his podcast and he raised hell about it.
 
hcuar said:
It's a free service from Apple... If they want Ads to increase revenue and keep it otherwise "free"... let em. 🙄
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OK, I agree with you. But I hate to see this happen as iTunes is so clean and void of ads (unless you count a billion album covers and ipod ads). They keep saying they are just 'breaking even' but with 9+ billion sitting around I would think twice about this...

make money on innovation not ad location
 
fabsgwu said:
By inserting ads automatically it give the appearance that the podcaster has "endorsed" the product being pushed. Ask Adam Curry if he'd appreciate that; Pod2Mob did some similar ad placing before his podcast and he raised hell about it.
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What in the article makes thing Apple would do that?


Stella said:
😎
The MiniStore was NOT spyware.

The only information it transmitted was the track you were currently playing. Apple clearly stated what data is being sent from iTunes. Just how is that "spyware"?!

Do you know what Spyware really is?
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Transmitted... but not tracked or recorded even 🙂 Merely sent as a kind of search and then forgotten.
 
jamdr said:
This is a step in the wrong direction I think.
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Hmm, isn't iTunes already full of ads for music?? And doesn't Apple already incorporate advertisment into OS X? (think of the option to buy ink via the printer settings).

MrCrowbar said:
Don't we already have the Apple logo flashing up in the iTunes visualization sometimes?
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Yeah, but the Apple logo also shows up at the backside of my Powerbook. I like it. I would be pretty annoyed though if Apple would replace it by a Mini LCD that shows ads for WalMart and Gatorade...
 
How this could work

There is only one way that I could think of where this would work: adding a "force album art open" feature in GarageBand, where a picture to be displayed in the album art pane would HAVE TO be displayed. The pane would then hide when a different picture came up.

This is completely up to the podcaster. But the consequences are that Diggnation could now sell GoDaddy a "GoDaddy Image" in the album art box that links to their site while they say that the podcast was sponsored by GoDaddy.com

All of a sudden, podcasters could bring in extra ad revenue by allowing companies to have pictures and links displayed. This is not a bad thing, in my opinion, since it's so unintrusive and you can still just fast forward if the ad is too long.

And hey, maybe its good sometimes to be able to force the album art pane open. As you talk about your vacation, you can play a photo slideshow. Then the pane dissappears as you move on to a different topic.
 
nagromme said:
What in the article makes thing Apple would do that?
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I was responding to people on the Forum who suggested that might be a next step. Inserting album art ads would be just as bad, IMO.
 
Everyone just take a deep breath. This is not a big deal.

I can't vote this as positive, 'cause I don't want to see a crappy microsoft ad in my album art window, but I can't vote negative, 'cause I know I can't always get content with no strings attached. Heck, you can't even look at many webpages without being exposed to advertising. Do the banner ads on this site make you angry?
 
fabsgwu said:
I was responding to people on the Forum who suggested that might be a next step. Inserting album art ads would be just as bad, IMO.
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Again, though, in what version of reality has anyone with any authority said anything like Apple actually doing that?

Don't respond to posts from forum people who didn't read or didn't understand the article as though they know what they're talking about. Read the ... article.

Now, that having been said, I think at face value the article does say that Apple will be adding a new option for advertisers. However, given the various conceptual errors the author makes, I think it is just about as likely that he is talking about podcasts (ESPN) using the technology (album/chapter art) that already exists to sell ads. In the first paragraph of the piece, it sounded like he was talking about selling space in the lede banner on the iTunes Music Store, but that doesn't fit with any of the rest of the article, so that's probably not it either.

On the other hand, it is hard to square album art with the statement "We are looking at new technology that will provide a much richer advertising experience [than 30-second audio ads] and hope to roll that out very soon." When advertisers talk about "rich", they usually mean one of two things:

1. Motion video
2. Interactivity (even as basic as a "click here to go to our web site" link)

As a result, I think it is highly possible that Apple is planning on expanding the "album art" podcast tag to allow for either quicktime video or for basic HTML. One can only hope that if they do HTML then they deactivate the "break out" features which riddle HTML ads in the web at large (popup windows, popunders, DHTML "you didn't really want to read that paragraph, did you?" craptacularities).

In any case, there's not enough here for anyone to get their panties in a bunch. Chill. Wait and see what happens.

For all you people howling about Apple stealing podcast content, inserting ads, and broadcasting that out ... man, you guys muct have some potent drugs out there!

Off-topic: I found it amusing that clicking on the link sent me to a full-page ad for ... nothing. Just a blank page with "Skip this ad" in the top-right. You'd think the brain trust at Advertising Age would be able to figure out this whole interstitial ad thing the cool kids have been playing with for five or six years now already ...
 
i already had to abandon safari for firefox because i wanted a more compatible javascript package. i won't go crying home to mama if i have to ditch itunes in favor of another media players because apple begins wasting my time with ad space.

besides, apple's looking to get bitten if they start competing on google's playing field. make a deal with someone who's good at this stuff or don't bother trying.
 
shamino said:
If one of those third parties wants to insert an ad, nobody is going to stop them. And nobody should. If you don't like it, complain to the author or unsubscribe.

If you think Apple is going to download a third-party podcast, edit it to insert their own ads, and then feed the modified version to customers, think again. Such a process would cost a fortune (far more than the ad revenue could ever produce), it would create a huge disgruntled user-base, would be illegal (violation of copyright) and it wouldn't work (because you could still download the original files from the original source.)

So let's drop all the paranoid conspiracy theories already, OK?
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I disagree there.
Some things you are correct on... True, as a podcaster I have been creating my own enhanced podcasts and have been free to put any photo advert or link that I want. That's nothing new so the article couldn't just be addressing this. True, Apple isn't about to edit my enhanced podcast to insert their ads. True, this would be illegal.

BUT... it would be legal, no cost to Apple, and should be possible to have an ad, totally independant of my podcast, pop up in the iTunes viewer window BEFORE my podcast is permitted to play. THIS is the point. I would not have control over the type of ad shown. It could even be advertising something I (or my podcast viewers) would not endorse. Not good.

Generally, I do think that there is a lot of misunderstanding, reading into, and overreacting to the article. Wait and see how it materializes.
 
i really hope this doesnt happen. because ok.. think about it. in the very long run.. ads and commercials could very well be uploaded onto our ipods.

that would tick the hell out of me.
 
booooooooooooooooo.... its bad enough apple advertises its own products on my computer with out my say so.

ITS MINE!
 
I would definitely dislike apple having ads on itunes, but people wont just stop using itunes if they start putting ads on it. From a business perspective its a good move for apple.
 
jettredmont said:
Again, though, in what version of reality has anyone with any authority said anything like Apple actually doing that?

Don't respond to posts from forum people who didn't read or didn't understand the article as though they know what they're talking about. Read the ... article.
Click to expand...

The article DID imply that Apple would insert ads, so it would be in Advertising Age's version of reality. It's a shoddy article, so why not open up this forum for discussion.

Of course people are going to comment regarding Apple's involvement in ad placing when MacRumors posts this on the front page: "Apple's current plans call for the ads to appear only in the lower-left corner of the iTunes library while users listen to podcasts from their computers rather than from portable devices."

The second half of your comment was much more constructive, keep to your opinions and lay off telling people how to comment. this whole site is about speculation, informed and (usually) otherwise.
 
That is so unlike Apple. For example: The major difference (appearance)between my PowerBook and PC notebook is the stickers that come on the
PC notebooks! No adds please!
 
Do This Instead ---

Are we going to get vibrating, spinning, flashing and otherwise obnoxious images in the lower left corner of our iTunes browser ???

I will set fire to my powerbook and toss it in the dumpster, in front of media cameras.

Now, let me settle down .......

OK,

Apple M U S T defend its minimalist aesthetics and must NEVER slip toward
the poor taste exemplified by WMP , REAL , et al. BARF !!!

This would be a SERIOUS betrayal of the Apple community.

If ads are worth watching, Apple could put a category on iTunes that
links to a menu of various types of ads : award-winning funny ads, infomercials of various types as seen on TV, public service ads, appliances, cars, causes, etc.

THEN we could choose to watch or download these without adding an iSore to iTunes.

Those accounts who choose to play certain ads might be credited with points
toward savings, via ecoupons, free tunes, etc.

With this model, we could all set an example viz., that ads do not need to violate our dignity, aesthetics, privacy, etc.

What do we think of this ??????

---gooddog

😡 😡 😡 😡
 
Kilchzimmer said:
BUT... it would be legal, no cost to Apple, and should be possible to have an ad, totally independant of my podcast, pop up in the iTunes viewer window BEFORE my podcast is permitted to play. THIS is the point. I would not have control over the type of ad shown. It could even be advertising something I (or my podcast viewers) would not endorse. Not good.
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Podcasts are not much different from any other kind of iTunes-compatible audio file.

If Apple would do this, then ads would end up appearing before and during all music playback. I think I can state with certainty, that most people would drop iTunes altogether if it became an adware product. I know I would. There are plenty of other programs that can play my music collection without ads, and you can be certain that many more would be developed if Apple made a brain-dead decision like this.

It just isn't going to happen.

fabsgwu said:
The article DID imply that Apple would insert ads, so it would be in Advertising Age's version of reality. It's a shoddy article, so why not open up this forum for discussion.
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The article claims that sponsored ads would be displayed as a part of the music store (which they call the iTunes service). Doesn't say anything about editing content (like podcasts) or making the iTunes program an adware application.
 
CubaTBird said:
iTunes, now bundled with spyware™😡
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🙄 Ads != spyware. Calm down people. Apple may be starting to turn into a Microsoft but they aren't stupid. If they start dropping ads all over iTunes people will go somewhere else for their music. Remember the beauty of the what Apple has isn't just the iPod. Isn't just iTunes. Isn't just iTMS. It’s the whole ball of wax. The minute they degrade any one aspect of the three they degrade them all. No doubt Apple is keenly aware of this and is keeping that in mind.
Also keep in mind that it was Jobs who stuck to his guns about .99 cent tracks. He knows what would happen if the price started to jump all over the board and he knows what would happen if they started dropping a ton of ads into iTunes.
 
shamino said:
The article claims that sponsored ads would be displayed as a part of the music store (which they call the iTunes service). Doesn't say anything about editing content (like podcasts) or making the iTunes program an adware application.
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Has this thread been hijacked by monkeys? 😱

"Apple's current plans call for the ads to appear only in the lower-left corner of the iTunes library while users listen to podcasts from their computers rather than from portable devices."​
 
I Love Advertising. Bring It On!

I Love Advertising. Bring It On! 😛

Entertainment Value. Distractions from Reality. Notification of Innovation. It's all good.
 
cdpilkington said:
Meh, if it keeps podcasts away from the paid subscription model (as adopted by Ricky gervais' second series
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baleensavage said:
Actually I have already seen a couple ads in podcasts
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Actually Ricky Gervais' first (free) podcast series included plenty of ads for TV programming, in particular the later episodes. How is this new?

B
 
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