Apple/ABC include ads with "Lost" Purchase

Over on MacZone, there is a very grumpy writer who found advertising at the start of his purchased Lost Episode.

I recently purchased an episode of Lost from the iTunes store and was surprised to find 30 seconds of promotional content (ads) included with the video. This is a departure from other content I have purchased from the iTunes Store. The first ad is a 8 second splash screen and ABC logo. I can forgive this because it serves as a short cover to the rest of the show. The second ad is for the live broadcast of Lost on ABC with scenes from the episode I just purchased! I find this one annoying, invasive, and wasteful.

While I agree that this might be annoying, it is not all that surprising. Even in buying a DVD or VHS movie, we have been bombarded with advertisements for years, so paying for something does not always mean ad-free, though I am guessing people would be willing to pay another twenty-five cents just to get fully ad-free videos. I doubt the advertisements will be removed any time soon, and I would be surprised if we don’t see more and more advertisements in paid-for downloaded content.