Some iPad Textbooks Weigh In Above Apple's 2GB Book Size Limit

[BigPrince]

They also better come up with a better deployment solution for schools to implement if this is going to catch on....these things don't just come ready out of the box...

 

[Amazing Iceman]

16GB is fine. You don't need all the books at the same time - you can have 32GB worth of books and a 16GB iPad and then simply ensure you sync the relevant books on each day, depending on your lessons.

Nevertheless Apple do need to look at building in compression here - text should weigh in at nothing, but images can be compressed without losing resolution - see Adobe's 'Save for Web' function for example. Another answer would be to 'Zip' the books up on the iPad when they are not being read, and 'Unzip' them when they are opened?

Too close for comfort. It would be a terrible investment to get 16GB iPads, knowing the risk of running out of storage.
The 16GB iPad may become extinct very soon, specially when the 128GB model comes out. The 32GB model will start at $499.00. And schools/students will get a nice discount.

I'm sure that image compression is used, but there are cases when you don't want a compressed image, as it may loose definition while zooming. Specially in Biology, you want images that are as close to the real sample as possible.

 

[gpat]

I could see the 32GB iPad becoming standard soon, but that would be too cheap with Apple's standards, considering that the next iPad will probably have Retina Display, LTE and improved camera as well.

16GB is fine. You don't need all the books at the same time - you can have 32GB worth of books and a 16GB iPad and then simply ensure you sync the relevant books on each day, depending on your lessons.

It would be great if automatized. Too big of an hassle if you had to do it manually.

Another answer would be to 'Zip' the books up on the iPad when they are not being read, and 'Unzip' them when they are opened?[

Would be slooooooow.

 

[Consultant]

A 500 page text book at 2.77GB is 5.54MB/page... maybe tone down the picture resolution a bit?!

Or allow downloading of individual chapters?!

Chapter at a time = good idea. Perhaps as an option.

Size: it can also include videos and other content. Not just photos.

 

[garylapointe]

16GB is fine. You don't need all the books at the same time - you can have 32GB worth of books and a 16GB iPad and then simply ensure you sync the relevant books on each day, depending on your lessons.

That sounds quite inconvenient! Swapping out only 8 GB a day would completely use up your DSL allotment for a month (at home) assuming they even have internet (plus wireless) at home; or are you assuming every kid has their own computer that they can plug this into and sync at night (and no siblings that need to sync either, since it's going to need to sit there for a while). I promise this isn't a safe assumption. All it takes is one kid who doesn't meet these requirements and it all falls apart. Put in more storage year for 1 and make sure you have enough...

Nevertheless Apple do need to look at building in compression here - text should weigh in at nothing, but images can be compressed without losing resolution - see Adobe's 'Save for Web' function for example. Another answer would be to 'Zip' the books up on the iPad when they are not being read, and 'Unzip' them when they are opened?

Why are you assuming there isn't decent compression? I just compressed a 2 MB book and got about 10% compression. Very low.

I suppose I could compress all my images more, but if I didn't want to, I'd be upset if Apple did it to my book (that's not what I created!).

(FYI, the PDF export was 6.5 MB for best and 1 MB for good quality. Neither compressed more than 0.5%.)

Gary

 

[mandysinn]

iKeep Smart Cover

the ipad books are available in the sizes of 16 and 32GB. You don't need to buy the book of huge size.Just review your need of lessons and according to the need buy a simple book of relevant size.



iKeep Charger

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Another answer would be to 'Zip' the books up on the iPad when they are not being read, and 'Unzip' them when they are opened?

EPUB 3 (and Apples version of this format) uses already zlib-compression (deflate, like in .zip files). However, animations seem to be in the SVG format (which uses also zlib-compression) and pictures are compressed according to the JPEG 6.0 standard. Both compression methods are very inefficient, if compared to LZMA and JPEG2000. The newer compression methods are able to compress the text- and image-files 30-60 percent better than the older methods. PDF supports JPEG2000 since 2003. Adobe uses LZMA within .7z archives for large applications (Creative Suite for Windows), which reduces the necessary bandwith and download time.

Apple obviously likes large downloads, wasted bandwith, wasted storage space and old compression methods. How user-friendly!

 

[Cubytus]

Let's hope students can not only afford an iPad (unless the schools give them one) but also afford a speedy ISP.

That sounds quite inconvenient! Swapping out only 8 GB a day would completely use up your DSL allotment for a month (at home) assuming they even have internet (plus wireless) at home; or are you assuming every kid has their own computer that they can plug this into and sync at night (and no siblings that need to sync either, since it's going to need to sit there for a while). I promise this isn't a safe assumption. All it takes is one kid who doesn't meet these requirements and it all falls apart. Put in more storage year for 1 and make sure you have enough...

Apple is probably assuming that, us being in 2012, in developed countries at least, 100% of kids would have a functional PC or Mac at home, as well as a decent ISP, i.e. without any kind of quota. That looks soooo 1996. In 1998, when a teacher asked a class of 31 about who had a computer, 30 hands raised; and to «who has Internet at home», 29 hands raised. That was 13 years ago.
So it's a pretty safe bet to assume that all kids from 2012 would have a computer at home, and an ISP either at home, or by the school wifi network.

It's not Apple's fault if the USA are, by many standards, a technically retarded country. I'd be glad that Apple's intiative, as well as Google's one pushed for more decent ISP plans, as they get in Europe.

I can readily picture a school where an administrator would use iCal events to automatically load and unload student's iPads with chapters they need for the following day, without

They should use JPEG2000 compression instead of JPEG 6.0.

The issue being that JPEG2000 is still, many years after its creation, widely unsupported.

Dropping the cameras might help. Having cameras are fun but not extremely important in my opinion.

Actually, a higher-resolution camera as well as a more sensitive, plug-in or integrated mic, would be a boon for students. How many times have we wished to keep a picture of a particular figure the professor drew on the chalk- or whiteboard? Much faster than trying to reproduce it by hand.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

The issue being that JPEG2000 is still, many years after its creation, widely unsupported.

iOS 5.x.x supports JPEG2000.

Robbwal12 on http://forums.adobe.com/message/3979251

I tried a PDF file that contains a JPEG 2000 image embedded... It seems that all other PDF viewers on iOS 5 are able to display the same document!

Jadasc on http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...-pdf-be-viewed-on-ibook-of-ipad-or-ipod-touch

The trouble is in the handling of JPEG2000 image files. Some solutions are offered here. If this was your problem, it was solved with the release of iOS 5. Those images should be viewable now.

 

[Carlanga]

The only issue I have with this is favoritism but I understand why they give them more privileges to the big boys. Also, Biology textbooks can show lots of cool things in videos or pic comparison that can make it way better to understand than to show 10 paragraphs explaining a cycle with words; while literature and social sciences don't need videos unless you are watching a movie based on it and for that you can just buy/rent/stream movies online.