image source: CNET

BY EVAN THOMAS

Something to keep in mind if you’re considering one of the new Kindle Fire tablets: no matter how much you pay, you’re going to have to deal with ads.

CNET reports Amazon’s new Fire tablets will display advertisements on their lock screens, and link to more sponsored advertising from their home screens. And in the wake of a flurry of reported miscommunication and official statements, it’s become clear there’s no way to opt out or even buy out of the ads.

This is a departure from ads on earlier generations of Kindle. With Amazon’s dedicated e-readers, you can either pay more up front for an unsubsidized version, or pay a one-time fee later to turn off the ads on your device forever.

And it looked, at least at first, that the new Fires would enjoy similar options. Engadget received an email which appeared pretty promising, despite some missed words and typos.

"I understand that you would like to opt out of the special offer and willing to pay extra for opting out special offer. Options for unsubscribing special offer will be announced soon.”

That wording made VentureBeat wonder if someone in Amazon PR was improvising — perhaps the company hasn’t had time to dictate its policy on the matter of lock-screen ads.

But Amazon quickly issued clarifications to Engadget, CNET and everyone else: lockscreen ads are here to stay — there will be no buy-out option.

SlashGear interprets Amazon’s stance : making money on content isn’t enough, apparently.

“The Kindle has always been considered something of a loss-leader for Amazon, the Kindle Fire particularly, with the retailer using the hardware to encourage content sales of ebooks, video, music, and apps. It appears the assurance of that long-tail revenue stream isn’t quite enough to satisfy Amazon with the second-gen Kindle Fire line-up, however.”

A writer for PC Magazine calls the practice of saddling even the top-end Fire with advertisements “disgraceful.”

“When it gets to the point that I'm forced to see ads just by using a gadget—for any task, at any time, no matter what—that's where I draw the line.”

But Gizmodo points out — without ads, you wouldn’t be scoring a Kindle Fire for as cheap as you can.

“There are bound to be plenty of people out there who couldn't care less about the ads. After all, they do subsidize the Kindle down to a nice, cheap price point. For the ad-adverse that buyout deal was pretty sweet while it lasted, and clearly too sweet to last.”

It’s worth noting Amazon’s new paperwhite e-reader will show ads, too — but you can buy out of those the same way you have in the past.