suggestion:macrumors iTunes affiliate?

[Don't panic]

should macrumors be part of the affiliate program of iTunes ?
if done properly it could be a great resource for Arn, and maybe help reduce some of those pesky ads.
thoughts?

 

[iLikeMyiMac]

I think it would be too much trouble. Its fine for one or two codes by email but if you want to buy a bunch of songs it seems like a hassle. Also you can't buy a whole album for the reduced price with them or audio books.
edit: Sorry I had the affiliate program confused with the bulk purchase program

 

[MacFan26]

I think the affiliates program is cool, it could be useful in say...the daily tunes section? I don't know, maybe it is too much trouble, but it'd still be kind of cool, I'm sure a lot of people would use it. The only other place I've seen it so far is at geekculture.com under the Joy of Tech. They say they've posted the link, which I can't seem to find, but that's another story.

 

[FlamDrag]

I'd buy all of my music from MacRumors affiliate program if it was pretty easy to do.

 

[Elan0204]

I think this is an excellent idea. I'm sure the MacRumors community spends a small fortune on iTMS, so if 5% of that could go to help MacRumors that would be great. I really think this is something arn should look into.

 

[Mudbug]

we're looking into it - thanks

 

[IndyGopher]

My initial reaction was that this was a great idea, and a complete no-brainer... but I went ahead and engaged the old brain anyway, and found a concern or two.

With the high amount of traffic MacRumors gets, it would probably make a fair bit of scratch from the program.. enough, quite possibly, to make the affiliate program the primary source of revenue for the site. (not predicting that it would turn the site into a paying concern, just closer to break even)

Now, 6, 12, 18 months down the road, Apple decides that it has made a big enough impact and either A) discontinues the affliate program, or B) Dictates that sites affiliated cannot do rumors. Neither of those are in any way out of the scope of the kind of stuff Apple has pulled in the past. (Pulling press access for rumor sites, dropping popular programs leaving companies in the lurch)

So I think it bears consideration, certainly.. but I would be very reluctant to allow it to become too great a part of the revenue mix.

Just my thoughts.