4 ms·

> It's advertising. Agreed. It's simply a bad business model; you're the product, not the customer, etc. It also has a hugely distorted effect on content produ

by lukifer 15y ago

> It's advertising. Agreed. It's simply a bad business model; you're the product, not the customer, etc. It also has a hugely distorted effect on content production, incentivizing shows to shoot for safe returns and broad appeal instead of monetizing hardcore fans of innovative niche programming. Put simply, I want businesses to care whether they have my money, not my eyeballs. I cut most forms of advertising out of my life 7-8 years ago: no radio, no broadcast TV, and FlashBlock+AdBlock. Once you do so, it's hard to go back. (Although YouTube's trend towards more and more video ads is getting frustrating; I wish I could throw $20/month at YouTube Pro or something to make it go away.)

nollidge 15y ago
> no radio There's definitely quality non-profit radio stations (NPR affiliates, for example) depending on where you live. At worst you get the fund drives that are annoying (but understandable) for a week. EDIT: This assumes you're in the U.S., though.
- Periodic 15y ago
  I listen mostly to NPR. Occasionally (pledge drives, reruns, shows I don't care for) I will turn to traditional radio to fill the void while driving (older car with no MP3 interface). It's amazing to me how many commercials they have! They feel interminable and it feels like at least half the channels have commercials playing at any given time. It really makes me appreciate KQED (local NPR station) and is the reason I support them. Fortunately, I'm seeing more and more cars support USB interfaces. Now I can just load up a USB stick (they are so cheap) with my music and old episodes of This American Life and I'm good to go for hundreds of miles.
  - caw 15y ago
    Where I am it seems like the commercials are synchronized across stations so you can't flip through radio stations and listen to music. I've switched to Pandora and my mp3 collection on my phone. I pipe that to my car stereo, which works well enough.
  - tikhonj 15y ago
    I've been listening to a commercial rock station on HD (KSAN fm on HD2), and it doesn't have any ads or announcements. There are silly "you're listening to station X and it's awesome" announcements every now and then, but that's about it. Everything else is just music. I have no idea why they don't have any talking or ads, but i don't mind. I suspect it's because this is an offshoot station--there is the normal station, with more mainstream classic rock, talking and ads and then there is this "HD2" station with no ads and different music. I really don't know why they run this station or even how it makes any money, but it's there and it's nice. So, for whatever reason, not all commercial stations have ads.
    - lukifer 15y ago
      It might be like the early days of YouTube or Hulu: few commercials as a loss leader to get people in the door, and then gradually ratchet them up.
- lukifer 15y ago
  I listen to NPR occasionally, but I'm also not one of those people that wants my media chosen randomly. I usually consume NPR-type content in podcast form. (Although more and more podcasts are becoming advertising-driven... grrr.)
Game_Ender 15y ago
I feel like using AdBlock is unethical. You are using a sites resource, while depriving them of the revenue they need to provide you that resource. I vote with my feet so to speak, and stick mostly to sites with subdued advertising.
- nzmsv 15y ago
  I found that turning off AdBlock has dramatically reduced my browsing of time-waster sites. It's also a sobering reminder of what the web looks like to most people, and it's not pretty.
- billybob 15y ago
  I disagree. No site has a right to force me to look at ads. And I don't have a right to force them to provide a service. Their offer is "come here for free, and we're hoping you'll look at these ads." They could change their offer. They could require payment. Maybe their service is something people will pay for and maybe not. If I don't pay and I don't look at ads, I have no right to expect the site to keep existing. But that's OK with me. It's like a casino that sells cheap dinners. Clearly, they want you to eat the cheap dinner and lose much more money gambling. But you're allowed to eat it and leave. If they wanted to prohibit that, they could make the dinner available only to those who gamble. But if they haven't set that condition, you don't have to obey it. All that said, I don't mind tasteful ads. I don't block ads on StackOverflow because they're interesting. I do block ads on Yahoo Mail (on the rare occasions that I log into my throwaway account there) because they're annoying and often offensive. If Yahoo says to me, "we're closing your account because you block our ads", I will say "that's fine." There are services I'm willing to pay for and services I'll only use if they're free. Looking at ads is a form of payment. Some sites are worth it, and others aren't.

by lukifer 15y ago

nollidge 15y ago

> no radio There's definitely quality non-profit radio stations (NPR affiliates, for example) depending on where you live. At worst you get the fund drives that are annoying (but understandable) for a week. EDIT: This assumes you're in the U.S., though.

Periodic 15y ago
I listen mostly to NPR. Occasionally (pledge drives, reruns, shows I don't care for) I will turn to traditional radio to fill the void while driving (older car with no MP3 interface). It's amazing to me how many commercials they have! They feel interminable and it feels like at least half the channels have commercials playing at any given time. It really makes me appreciate KQED (local NPR station) and is the reason I support them. Fortunately, I'm seeing more and more cars support USB interfaces. Now I can just load up a USB stick (they are so cheap) with my music and old episodes of This American Life and I'm good to go for hundreds of miles.
- caw 15y ago
  Where I am it seems like the commercials are synchronized across stations so you can't flip through radio stations and listen to music. I've switched to Pandora and my mp3 collection on my phone. I pipe that to my car stereo, which works well enough.
- tikhonj 15y ago
  I've been listening to a commercial rock station on HD (KSAN fm on HD2), and it doesn't have any ads or announcements. There are silly "you're listening to station X and it's awesome" announcements every now and then, but that's about it. Everything else is just music. I have no idea why they don't have any talking or ads, but i don't mind. I suspect it's because this is an offshoot station--there is the normal station, with more mainstream classic rock, talking and ads and then there is this "HD2" station with no ads and different music. I really don't know why they run this station or even how it makes any money, but it's there and it's nice. So, for whatever reason, not all commercial stations have ads.
  - lukifer 15y ago
    It might be like the early days of YouTube or Hulu: few commercials as a loss leader to get people in the door, and then gradually ratchet them up.
lukifer 15y ago
I listen to NPR occasionally, but I'm also not one of those people that wants my media chosen randomly. I usually consume NPR-type content in podcast form. (Although more and more podcasts are becoming advertising-driven... grrr.)

Game_Ender 15y ago

I feel like using AdBlock is unethical. You are using a sites resource, while depriving them of the revenue they need to provide you that resource. I vote with my feet so to speak, and stick mostly to sites with subdued advertising.

nzmsv 15y ago
I found that turning off AdBlock has dramatically reduced my browsing of time-waster sites. It's also a sobering reminder of what the web looks like to most people, and it's not pretty.
billybob 15y ago
I disagree. No site has a right to force me to look at ads. And I don't have a right to force them to provide a service. Their offer is "come here for free, and we're hoping you'll look at these ads." They could change their offer. They could require payment. Maybe their service is something people will pay for and maybe not. If I don't pay and I don't look at ads, I have no right to expect the site to keep existing. But that's OK with me. It's like a casino that sells cheap dinners. Clearly, they want you to eat the cheap dinner and lose much more money gambling. But you're allowed to eat it and leave. If they wanted to prohibit that, they could make the dinner available only to those who gamble. But if they haven't set that condition, you don't have to obey it. All that said, I don't mind tasteful ads. I don't block ads on StackOverflow because they're interesting. I do block ads on Yahoo Mail (on the rare occasions that I log into my throwaway account there) because they're annoying and often offensive. If Yahoo says to me, "we're closing your account because you block our ads", I will say "that's fine." There are services I'm willing to pay for and services I'll only use if they're free. Looking at ads is a form of payment. Some sites are worth it, and others aren't.