Ads Coming to iTunes?

The iTunes Music Store is getting a lot of attention yet again, however, this time it's not from the users, but rather the content providers. "Coming soon to iTunes: ads. Apple -- a brand that prides itself on the purity of the user experience -- will soon put up billboards on its popular iTunes service, according to content partners who have been briefed on the plan," Abbey Klaassen reports for Advertising Age.

This is a very rickety bridge Apple is going to be crossing. On one hand, the users are not going to be receiving these new ads well, especially after having used the service for so long without them. On the other hand, if it is going to maintain its leading position, the iTMS needs to be able to also compete with services offering free, ad driven media content.

So far, it seems that the ads will only be introduced to podcasts, and only seen when listening to the podcast from iTunes but this is only a beginning. Will Apple, expand them to other content and other devices such as the iPod? Most likely, however, it is quite improbable that Apple will start mixing adds with the content that is purchased by the user. Most likely, some time in the future, the user will be able to choose whether they want to pay for the content and own it, add free, or receive it free, with embedded adds.