Multimedia in our ebooks?

New publisher Cathedral Rock Publishing has announced the results of a survey: 77 per cent of ebook users want ebooks with music, and 50 per cent would pay double for it.

Naturally, we're going to take any results with a grain of salt; Cathedral Rock Publishing, the brave pioneer that commissioned the survey, is trying to introduce the concept of e-commerce into ebooks. The company said in a press release last month:

"Using Cathedral Rock's 'Book IS the Store' application, book publishers, authors — even musicians and music publishers — can turn a single sale into multiple and continuing sales by offering products and services selected for a customer with specific interests, presented at precisely the right time in the ebook."

Only 105 people were surveyed, and the sampling isn't exactly clear; and, as Cathedral Rock Publishing has a vested interest in the results coming up in its favour, it's no surprise that the result turned out as it did.

Still, while we find the idea of advertising within ebooks execrable, the idea of integrated multimedia is an intriguing one.

What do you think; does the idea have merit, or is it a gigantic pile of tripe?