Can the iPad completley replace College Textbooks??

[spammerhamster]

You ever do a problem on one page and have to constantly flip back to the examples to figure what to do? Trust me it's not fun even attempting that on a eBook.

It's not fun attempting that on a eink-reader. Or on a PDF for that matter. But on a dedicated textbook app, where you can bookmark, scrapping, quicksearch, quickreference and quickscroll with small thumbnails of each page it'd be no problem.

Imagine a combo of padnotes, ibooks, pages, wikireader and bento.

 

[komquat]

1. The publisher has definite plans for the iPad and other ebook readers.
2. Electronic textbooks will sell for approximately 60% of their dead tree versions.
3. Each electronic textbook will expire no later than one year after purchase.
4. The publisher has no plans to sell electronic textbooks that do not expire.
5. Supplementary materials will be available.

#4 is not good, what about us that are out of college but would like to use textbooks as reference material for many years? I do this with many of my old textbooks and would find it very nice to be able to sit in a meeting and pull a reference from a text...

 

[sushi]

http://www.coursesmart.com/go/ipad/index.html

Already has most college textbooks, and will have an iPad app.

Looked at some books. All had 180 day subscription expiration.

Personally, once I purchase the textbook, I want to be able to use it indefinitely.

#4 is not good, what about us that are out of college but would like to use textbooks as reference material for many years? I do this with many of my old textbooks and would find it very nice to be able to sit in a meeting and pull a reference from a text...

Exactly.

I do not like the idea of subscriptions.

 

[miles01110]

I do not like the idea of subscriptions.

I don't either, and if I was in college today I would still be buying hard copies of Goldstein, Feynman, and Sakurai. That being said, I would consider buying a subscription-type service for technical books; you'd pay a one-time "cover price" and then could selectively pay a smaller amount for the newest version. One thing that does irritate me is that some of the tech books I bought a few years ago are already obsolete.

 

[Julien]

Since Seton Hill students pay a $100 Technology fee per semester, it's quite safe to say that some of that goes towards their "free" iPad.

Again "safe to say" and stating as a known are two different things. I agree it's likely but I don't know. Also was this fee just added or raised substantially for the upcoming semester😕

 

[GregGebhardt]

The iPad is going to revolutionize the industry. I think we will see the option to buy most text books, if not all, sooner rather than later.

This new technology is going to change the rules and we will see some changes we can not even imagine. I can't wait! I am drowning in books and newspapers and look forward to their demise in most situations.

 

[rogerram]

Availability of Academic Books

My wife is starting her 2nd career (after 25 years as a Pastry Chef). She's in nursing school and has HUGE medical books. I picked her up a Kindle at Christmas with the idea of replacing them.

Well, it's a yes-and-no solution. Not all her books are online yet. Also, a lot of her physiology lab books rotate every semester. One of them, a particuarly large dissection manual, costs $300 used. On the Kindle the same thing costs $192. Some savings...on one hand I am aghast at the cost, but as a business owner I understand about making a profit...so let's drop that there.🙄

Anyway...when we downloaded the manual I was amazed it was edited.??!!?? There txt was basically the same but the graphics had been reduced in resolution. At the time I felt that textbooks and Kindle's weren't ready for prime time (my observations..YMMV). When the iPad came out I said "Aha!" a e-reader with a quality screen....THIS is what the txt book world needs. 😉

Unfortunatly for my wife...the first iPad is mine 🙂 We don't splurge much but we do take turns...and it's my turn!! 😀

Can't wait for Saturday...

I was looking on Amazon kindle for perhaps a rather obscure book I needed for my doctoral amendments-they didn't have it. The alternative here in UK was to order the hardback for £63! The paperback was only £25 BUT print on demand so a 3 week wait-too late for me.
With the original Kindle book search they have a 30-day return deal for the Kindle so that would have tided me over until I got my 3G iPad hopefully at the end of April! My concern is how many academic books will actually be available in the iBook store. A bonus for me, being a lazy mature student, is if iBook does the same switch to 'read aloud' as the Kindle that would be great.

 

[TeddyLeroux]

wow.... thanks for the responses... if it matters.... i will be going to a two year school to get my basic studies done then I will be transfer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison... GO BUCKY!!!! Anyway... I will be majoring in Business/Marketing... if this has any effect please let me know.... if Apple puts all of the books i need on the ibookstore then i will definitely go that route

 

[miles01110]

if Apple puts all of the books i need on the ibookstore then i will definitely go that route

It's not really up to Apple, it's up to the publishers.

 

[sushi]

I don't either, and if I was in college today I would still be buying hard copies of Goldstein, Feynman, and Sakurai. That being said, I would consider buying a subscription-type service for technical books; you'd pay a one-time "cover price" and then could selectively pay a smaller amount for the newest version. One thing that does irritate me is that some of the tech books I bought a few years ago are already obsolete.

Good point.

The problem with subscriptions is the time limit. I know I'm stating the obvious but that's going to turn off many folks to this system.

Electronic books take no space, per se. (Well they do take HD space.) Currently I have about 16-17 boxes of textbooks, training manuals, seminar materials and references. I would love to have them all on one nice HD. Easily referenced. Easy to store and carry.

I do like your idea of an upgrade price when a new version (edition) of a textbook is released. Of course, the upgrade would be optional.

BTW, I still have my Hudson's manual (and slide rule) from days gone by. Quality references like the Hudson's manual are good to have. 🙂

 

[miles01110]

The problem with subscriptions is the time limit. I know I'm stating the obvious but that's going to turn off many folks to this system.

Yeah. I don't think I'd buy a book that magically disappeared if I didn't throw money at it after a year.

BTW, I still have my Hudson's manual (and slide rule) from days gone by. Quality references like the Hudson's manual are good to have. 🙂

Indeed. The Feynman Lectures and TAOCP aren't quite the same as ebooks.

 

[GaresTaylan]

It will be interesting to see how this pans out. While I am not in college anymore, my fiancee still is. She made a valid point yesterday when we were talking about this subject...

You can lose your iPad, and you can lose your textbook... sure thats nothing new...

But when was the last time you couldnt use your textbook because it wouldnt power on or the battery died?

There obviously is the warranty/applecare + the battery replacement feature (and I'm sure you can probably just leave it plugged in if the battery no longer holds a charge..) but what if these options won't provide a quick enough fix?

 

[Jaro65]

My wife is starting her 2nd career (after 25 years as a Pastry Chef). She's in nursing school and has HUGE medical books. I picked her up a Kindle at Christmas with the idea of replacing them.

Well, it's a yes-and-no solution. Not all her books are online yet. Also, a lot of her physiology lab books rotate every semester. One of them, a particuarly large dissection manual, costs $300 used. On the Kindle the same thing costs $192. Some savings...on one hand I am aghast at the cost, but as a business owner I understand about making a profit...so let's drop that there.🙄

Anyway...when we downloaded the manual I was amazed it was edited.??!!?? There txt was basically the same but the graphics had been reduced in resolution. At the time I felt that textbooks and Kindle's weren't ready for prime time (my observations..YMMV). When the iPad came out I said "Aha!" a e-reader with a quality screen....THIS is what the txt book world needs. 😉

Unfortunatly for my wife...the first iPad is mine 🙂 We don't splurge much but we do take turns...and it's my turn!! 😀

Can't wait for Saturday...

I had a really lousy experience with textbooks and Kindle as well. Part of that was due to low-quality graphics, part to other issues. In the end, I ended purchasing dead tree versions, which I can resell, and I just sold both my Kindle DX and Kindle 2. I will be getting an iPad.

 

[chriskzoo]

It will take a while for electronic publishing to get where it needs to go for college textbooks. The following are a few points that I learned from a recent conversation with a salesperson:

1. The publisher has definite plans for the iPad and other ebook readers.
2. Electronic textbooks will sell for approximately 60% of their dead tree versions.
3. Each electronic textbook will expire no later than one year after purchase.
4. The publisher has no plans to sell electronic textbooks that do not expire.
5. Supplementary materials will be available.

From where I sit, electronic textbooks will not realize their potential as long as their production is dominated by old line dead tree publishers. However, the barriers to entry of electronic publishing are much lower than for publishing on dead trees. Hopefully, this will allow new players to wrest control of publishing from the old line publishing houses.

I can see why they want this model, but I they MUST offer a way to keep the book. Even if it's something like $10 at the end of the year, I dont' see the point of having them expire. They are going to be DRM'ed and unlike a regular book, you can't just give it to a friend - so why have it expire?

I was a pretty good college student, but I think something like the iPad would have made me even better. I was a classic last minute crammer on studying and something like this makes it so easy to just bring out in the cafeteria or wherever to read a few pages here and there, unlike a 5lb textbook.

 

[ct2k7]

My wife is starting her 2nd career (after 25 years as a Pastry Chef). She's in nursing school and has HUGE medical books. I picked her up a Kindle at Christmas with the idea of replacing them.

Well, it's a yes-and-no solution. Not all her books are online yet. Also, a lot of her physiology lab books rotate every semester. One of them, a particuarly large dissection manual, costs $300 used. On the Kindle the same thing costs $192. Some savings...on one hand I am aghast at the cost, but as a business owner I understand about making a profit...so let's drop that there.🙄

Anyway...when we downloaded the manual I was amazed it was edited.??!!?? There txt was basically the same but the graphics had been reduced in resolution. At the time I felt that textbooks and Kindle's weren't ready for prime time (my observations..YMMV). When the iPad came out I said "Aha!" a e-reader with a quality screen....THIS is what the txt book world needs. 😉

Unfortunatly for my wife...the first iPad is mine 🙂 We don't splurge much but we do take turns...and it's my turn!! 😀

Can't wait for Saturday...

I think these books are the most interesting, in terms of price:
eTextbook $106.50

(360 day subscription) - I want a permanent book... and I sometimes refer to textbooks I used 2 years ago, just for basic principles.

 

[Epicurus]

I can handle a bit of DRM that keeps my eBooks on iPads and iPhones and in iTunes. What I cannot abide by is expiration dates on a textbook. This makes absolutely no sense for a book in your major. Being able to go back and reference this material is critical to surviving junior and senior year.

I've said as much in several committee meetings on campus here, but publishers are pushing hard for subscription books. This would kill off the used book market, which is the only rationale they ever had for the high prices, but they're keeping the prices high nonetheless.

Textbooks in the iBookstore would be amazing, and I am very hopeful that Apple follows through.

 

[paulisme]

I can handle a bit of DRM that keeps my eBooks on iPads and iPhones and in iTunes. What I cannot abide by is expiration dates on a textbook. This makes absolutely no sense for a book in your major. Being able to go back and reference this material is critical to surviving junior and senior year.

It's also important for people who actually want to retain the knowledge they gain in college by keeping the textbook around, rather than just using it to cram for a test and forgetting it afterwards. The psychology majors I know who have gone on to be professionals keep their books because they need them for their careers.

 

[Epicurus]

Just to be clear here, I am very optimistic about Apple offering textbooks for sale using their established iTunes Store model. You pay for something, you get a file, you keep that file forever.

Electronic books, especially reference texts, are amazingly useful. I just want to be able to hold onto a book if I've spent $50+ on it. I don't want it disappearing after 18 months...

 

[anthonymoody]

I think the answer is 'yes', with a healthy dose of 'it depends' until we know more.

 

[YayMayorBee]

There is a "netflix" type of service for text books that my girl friend uses. You get like 4 books per semester or something.

Probably something worth looking into

 

[YayMayorBee]

http://www.skoobit.com/How-it-Works

There it is. Its like only $10.99 for 4 books per semester or more for other plans, it would save you literally hundreds if not more per year.

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

If I was running a school...

The books would be open-source text books as much as possible. Or, books published by my own faculty. Everything else is sending money off-campus.

There are good open-source texts now for many subjects. There are a lot of subjects that simply don't change or need updates from year to year. Differential equations are the same today as they were many years ago. Sure, teaching & explaining methods improve, but open-source books can be updated to get better and better... (which means more dynamic areas of study can be supported by this model as well). I think this is the way of the future. Maybe not for many years, but in the long term...

And to echo what others have said - things like the ability to highlight text, add notes, pictures, graphs, bookmarks, etc... are all necessities.

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

Also...

In addition to Seton Hill, we have George Fox. This actually made the local news (NPR)... They had a quick phone interview today with the administrator there.

 

[Epicurus]

The books would be open-source text books as much as possible. Or, books published by my own faculty. Everything else is sending money off-campus.

I know a classics professor who is always complaining that his textbook prices are too high. As he says, "These books were written thousands of years ago. Why do we need a new edition every year?" The issue here being that the department is selecting the textbook and not the professor.

Another friend of mine teaches optics. When the department tried to stick him with an overpriced textbook he flatly refused to go along and instead assigned his students to buy a small stack of Dover books. The books were smaller (individually), covered much more material, and even combined were half the price of the "official" book.

The irony is that for many fields the universities could go to older, cheaper, more classical textbooks for the introductory courses. For some reason, however, the departments are stuck in a cycle of buying "modern" textbooks that refresh themselves every year.

 

[thatguysmells]

No. If your like me and study with multiple text books open at the same time, how would an iPad do that?