yeah but ads on free sites are ubiquitous and take many forms.  This one is a minor annoyance, and some on other sites (e.g., that play a 30 second commercial before you can see a youtube video) are worse.

tmsorosk wrote:

Is it me or is the banner that comes across the home page while your reading  a bit of a nuisance .

No banner ads, no free access to Stereophile's content, unfortunately. :-(

tmsorosk wrote:

If you wanted someone to read something , would you completely block their view ? 

The Sony ad should not block access to our content. Yes, if you are on a slow connection, as it loads first, it fills the screen. That's my experience on an iPad 3G connection. But that's only until the stories on the home page loads.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

tmsorosk wrote:

  The banner certainly does block my view of the content and reappears at will ,  sometimes . I wouldn't be complaining if it didn't .

If you are holding your mouse over the Sony skin when it first appears, yes, a Sony pop-up appears that you have to close manually. But as best as I can tell, it doesn't appear on subsequent loadings of the page unitl the content changes. I'll try to find out more information.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

JA-

I do not mind banners per se. I do mind pop-up ads- avoid allowing those onto the web page.

I usually open your advertisers banners anyway just to see what's happening at Musical Surroundings, Sony, HD Tracks, etc.  I don't need to feel bullied.  Ironically, I didn't mind being asked to subscribe to Stereophile, which I was a long time subscriber and intended to re-up this year.  But without the daily reminder when I jump on to scroll through the site, it hasn't been on my mind much!

If web advertising vs print advertising is your new bread and butter, that's your business.  I'm not a fan.

I use Chrome with AdBlock. Stereophile and its sister sites recently, suddenly refused to load, so I cut back on AdBlock. I actually like the ads in the print mag.--as both art and as information. Online, I don't mind ads that use little CPU/memory, but when they slow page loading, they are simply annoying. Stereophile online ads are indeed pushing some user-tolerance limits, IMO. And I should know ... I run several affiliate sites that employ banners -- yes, they pay the bills! BUT ... use of them is highly nuanced ... so they can backfire. E.g., those manuf. in the ads -- esp. popups can Close-firsts -- can become NEGATIVELY associated with thier displayed product....to speak nothing of the site.

Google AdSense and other PPCs may be better and more profitable. Google seems to keep their ads nicely managed and balanced (= less annoying to public).