Text books not helping students

[imatt]

I remember Jobs saying that text books will be available. At first thought, this is great. No more lugging around heavy books in a backpack all day. However, one of the good things about physical books is book buy-backs at the end of semesters.

Unless they're giving us these books at HUGE discounts, I seriously see no point in buying them on an iPad. Most college students struggle trying to afford books every semester. If they were able to reduce the price 70%, that would really be the only way for students to benefit.

Of course there's always the argument of, if you can afford a $500-$850 machine, what's a couple hundred more for books you'll never use again....

 

[DG~X]

Agreed. But, there just giving you the option of buying books online. Maybe the same price but some people like ordering it online. I usually do but its always cheaper buying it online and much easier to get supplies.

 

[iDan]

It would be great if you purchased the text book and got the e-book for free. That way you have the option of using either when needed

 

[imatt]

iDan, that is a great idea. Isn't there something where if you upload a CD that you bought in a store to your computer, it'll be recognized by iTunes and you can put it on your ipod? That's how this should work with books. You buy the book, register it online, and have a copy to download.

 

[cfw123]

As best i can find about iBooks, there is no DRM digital rights management, with all books in the new standard format. Thus what is to stop you from selling the book to another iPad user the next semester, when you don't need it anymore? Of course many profs try to put out a new book every semester in order to profit from them, but this obseletes all books -- not only those for the iPad.

 

[imatt]

True. However the beauty of actual text books is to buy it cheap on ebay, then resell it and get most of your money back. Not all books get updated every semester and professors sometimes try and keep the same type of book for several years (i.e. math books and economics).

I'm looking at Kindle comparisons and the economics book is flat out $136. Why would someone buy my copy of it for $136 when they could buy it from amazon?

 

[terry]

Yeah, digital text books make no sense. The publishers won't want them due to pirating and without them it's not happening. As others have said there are a couple out there but they are pricey.

 

[Amy S.]

I don't know why education in the US is tied to pricey text books. If something can be developed on-line, that would be great.

E-books can easily be updated, too, so there doesn't have to be a new edition every year.

 

[Superbike81]

Ummmmmmm, did you guys do any research at all?

Go to CourseSmart.com

I tried e-books on my laptop last semester, hated it because the battery didn't last long enough for my schedule and scrolling around in the book using the touchpad sucks.

As far as price goes, this semester, all of my books are available on CourseSmart at $55 to $60 each. I paid between $110 and $130 used for my books. If I would have had the iPad I would have bought e-books and saved almost $200. I'm a pre-med, I keep my books, so it's a big deal.

E-books will amazing on iPad! I can't wait.

 

[iVegas702]

What sucks is that when you sell them back you don't get much for them. Just think of it from a green stand point. The amount of energy to make a book and the paper involved.

 

[kfc]

Hi All,

My first post here, In Australia we have a digital initiative to give every student a notebook. The ipad is being seriously considered as an alternative if it meets the funding criteria.

If the government provided you with an Ipad thats a whole new ball game.

iPad slated for classrooms as part of national program | The Australian

 

[Amy S.]

Thanks for the info on Coursesmart. I didn't know about it.

I do think that it would take a little getting used to (e-text books). I am not doing well on my how to books that are on my touch.

I am too used to pen and paper, or highlighting. I guess I could still take conventional notes, but I need to experiment with highlighting on the screen.

 

[iBean]

I agree that when you buy the hard copy, you should be able to download 1 copy as part of the price. There are lots of smart people publishing education materials, so why not redirect some of those smarts into figuring out a way to make that happen. As far as pirating, some people are always going to take (steal) something if it's easy, so ignore those folks and make honest downloading easy for those that want to do it the honest way.

 

[imatt]

Ummmmmmm, did you guys do any research at all?

Go to CourseSmart.com

I tried e-books on my laptop last semester, hated it because the battery didn't last long enough for my schedule and scrolling around in the book using the touchpad sucks.

As far as price goes, this semester, all of my books are available on CourseSmart at $55 to $60 each. I paid between $110 and $130 used for my books. If I would have had the iPad I would have bought e-books and saved almost $200. I'm a pre-med, I keep my books, so it's a big deal.

E-books will amazing on iPad! I can't wait.

Wow that's huge. Thanks for the heads up. Most students buy text books at around 150 and get like 40 bucks back losing 110. This lets you just spend an average of 66 on the book.

 

[Superbike81]

I also hate selling things to people, it's just a headache, answering e-mails, answering phone calls, dealing with "lowballers", meeting up for the sale, having someone flake out, meeting up with the next person, etc, etc.

So even if I technically would only save a little bit by going to e-books, it saves me a TON of headaches.