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This is a victory for the free man.

Textbook prices dropping to 15 bucks and able to keep them indefinitely, would empower the common man to become a liberated intellectual... (that is unless they are filled with dogma and disinformation)

As of now ebooks for college students must be leased off a website, cannot even be kept for later use, and become less portable than a normal textbook given the fact that a internet connection is required.

www.cengagebrain.com

is an example of a site which does this.

It just shows how technology can be used to liberate or enslave.

I'm glad we have a few freedom loving/thinking people over at Apple to push things in the right direction - humans are enslaved enough as it is and since we always inevitably will be slaves (no matter what we do) it's best to use every opportunity that there is to make life a little more tolerable and free.

I'm sure some textbook fascist out there is freaking out already about this iBooks innovation, coming up with some plan on how to circumvent it and keep everyone stupid and submissive...
 
This is a victory for the free man.

Textbook prices dropping to 15 bucks and able to keep them indefinitely, would empower the common man to become a liberated intellectual... (that is unless they are filled with dogma and disinformation)
Visit your local library instead.
 
Not that I don't believe you...but show us proof that you can buy a copy of 5th Grade Math and let 3 (or more) other folks in your house use it...on THEIR own devices...AND GET FREE UPGRADES...all at no additional cost. You do realize EACH of your 3 daughters are going to need their own $500+ iPads...right?

So in your example, you are stating Julie is 9, Sue is 8, and Beth is 7. Julie buys her copy of Math and uses it all year. Then when Sue turns 9 and moves to the next grade, she simply copies/downloads for free the latest Math (since you already bought if for Julie) to use on her own iPad...and then a year later the same thing for Beth. I don't believe it.

The textbook people are not going to suddenly let a "family" buy 1 copy of a textbook and get unlimited free upgrades as well as free use on all devices. Each textbook will cost something.

That being said...when I was in public school from Grade 1 to about Grade 5, all our textbooks were GIVEN to us for free from the school. Sure, our tax dollars paid for them, but we did not buy them like you would as a college student.

Someone, somewhere, is paying for all these copies...and trust me that the publishing firms are not going to change their sales model to "now you only buy 1 copy per household" from "each human buys their own copy". :)
Currently have 3 iPads, (1) iPad 1, (2) iPad 2's. My mom is a teacher and has bought several hundred dollars worth of Apps out of her own salary, not school funds, only reason I was remotely interested in Apple's iPad was the fact all I had to do was buy the device. After I learned about the AT&T unlimited data plan, and VoIP, got me and my wife one from other unlimited data plan holders that did not want it and transferred them to the iPad 2's. I pay $32/mo for unlimited data, voice, text. And yes between our (3) iPad devices and my mom's (2) iPad devices, we share the same Apps. I doubt it is any different than the Apps, Music, Movies, or regular IBooks than it is for the textbooks. Apple's already said authors can update their iBooks, like Apps are updated. When was the last time you paid for an update to an App? Now if your family uses individual accounts per person, that's your business, we will only use one.

When iPad 3 releases next month, my mom will be getting my iPad 2, bought at a discount from me. She likes to help fund my upgrade path, and I always go with the biggest model. My dad uses my old iPad 1.

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Could you imagine the swap meets on Campuses? People logging into each others accounts to share books. Only way to update though is to know other persons pw info, if an update is released you cannot get it, just delete it and install from another person, or if the iBook is worth it, buy your own copy.

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this is all fairly interesting but imho they're just missing the point!

the iPad NEEDS PEN INPUT, students need to scribble notes and draw stuff themselves it is a necessity.

like this, it's just not enough! I don't have one because i can't use it as a notepad! If the iPad had pen-input on top of touch, it would be huge...hands down.

Capacitive Stylus, works fine, I use one in combination with SignNSend when I need to fill out a PDF.
 
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Anyone know where I can download the Apple video from the original post? My internet at home is slow as heck and I would like to download it at work so I can just take it home on a flash drive.

My wife is a high school guidance counsellor and her school is currently looking into buying a system based on cheap android tablets that would house all the students books, homework, etc, and allow them to transfer it back and forth with the teachers.

Sounds like the iPad may be another option in the near future, possibly with better features (I don't think the books on the android tables are nearly as interactive, just simple text and pictures).

Those of you who dont' think that schools can afford this must not realize how much money the schools actually spend on textbooks, workbooks, worksheets, copies, etc. My wife's school is looking at this because it will most likely save them money.
 
Fast forward a few years when every school is financially committed to iPads and then Apple decides iPads aren't the future any more.
 
Fatter iPad in Hands-On Video

Does anyone else notice a distinct difference in thickness on one of the iPad models used in the new hands-on video?

See Screenshot

xfvp91.png
 
Are there text books to do with engineering and structural engineering? This could be key to me getting the iPad again.
 
sucks to be using an android tablet now lol

Apple is just pushing further ahead of the rest these days. Thank god for secrecy

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Fast forward a few years when every school is financially committed to iPads and then Apple decides iPads aren't the future any more.

Just like schools are financially committed to textbooks which are not the future anymore?

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Currently have 3 iPads, (1) iPad 1, (2) iPad 2's. My mom is a teacher and has bought several hundred dollars worth of Apps out of her own salary, not school funds, only reason I was remotely interested in Apple's iPad was the fact all I had to do was buy the device. After I learned about the AT&T unlimited data plan, and VoIP, got me and my wife one from other unlimited data plan holders that did not want it and transferred them to the iPad 2's. I pay $32/mo for unlimited data, voice, text. And yes between our (3) iPad devices and my mom's (2) iPad devices, we share the same Apps. I doubt it is any different than the Apps, Music, Movies, or regular IBooks than it is for the textbooks. Apple's already said authors can update their iBooks, like Apps are updated. When was the last time you paid for an update to an App? Now if your family uses individual accounts per person, that's your business, we will only use one.

When iPad 3 releases next month, my mom will be getting my iPad 2, bought at a discount from me. She likes to help fund my upgrade path, and I always go with the biggest model. My dad uses my old iPad 1.

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Could you imagine the swap meets on Campuses? People logging into each others accounts to share books. Only way to update though is to know other persons pw info, if an update is released you cannot get it, just delete it and install from another person, or if the iBook is worth it, buy your own copy.

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Capacitive Stylus, works fine, I use one in combination with SignNSend when I need to fill out a PDF.

I can imagine a group of students making a universal account and they all chip in their share for 1 book :)

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Visit your local library instead.

I think you missed the part where text books(physical) are dated material

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I have never been a fan of the iPad, I couldn't justify the third device for price and functionality.

But recently I found my expensive textbooks online, and the iPad will pay for itself in 2 semesters.

I just hope I can read them on the mac until the iPad 3 comes out.

hopefully the ipad3 is very close! it runs well on the ipad2 though so if you need it desperately don't worry about buying the iPad 2 since it will still get the job done
 
I think you missed the part where text books(physical) are dated material
Right, libraries are dead and paying for everything is the future. Get back to me when e-collections do not suffer from draconian licenses, policies, and everyone gets handed eReader/tablets for free. That is before I even mention they are beacons in the community.

Hail our corporate saviors...
 
I think the iPad textbooks are a brilliant idea. When I was in med school, there used to be a series of books called Lippincott's Illustrated Series. They were GREAT review books because of the detailed illustrations and artwork, which was particularly helpful for subjects like Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Seeing chemical pathways and pictures of pharmacokinetics made the concepts MUCH easier to memorize than simply reading my lecture notes or the traditional textbooks. At the time, when Mac OS 7 and Windows 3.1 were the up-to-date operating systems (early to mid 90s), I used wish that someone would publish a CD-ROM version of these books so I could see the same illustrations in animated form on a computer screen.

Well, the iPad textbooks finally brings that concept to life. In certain fields of study (like medical sciences, as an example), this mixture of multimedia into the textbook is tremendously invaluable and would have allowed for much better retention after a single reading, rather than having to read things over and over again to remember everything. Also, my back would have appreciated the significantly lighter load in my backpack!!! Carrying around books on anatomy, biochemistry, histology, neuroanatomy along with 3 ring binders of course packs AND my notebooks was not a picnic!
 
Right, libraries are dead and paying for everything is the future. Get back to me when e-collections do not suffer from draconian licenses, policies, and everyone gets handed eReader/tablets for free. That is before I even mention they are beacons in the community.

Hail our corporate saviors...

Sorry if I don't want to have a textbook that was dated 10 years old instead of something that doesn't give me back problems just carrying it around and has updated material. Sorry if the time I spend dragging around heavy textbooks disallows me to use that time to make some cash and buy an iPad. Sorry master, I will now go and read my hieroglyphics for my IT class.

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I think the iPad textbooks are a brilliant idea. When I was in med school, there used to be a series of books called Lippincott's Illustrated Series. They were GREAT review books because of the detailed illustrations and artwork, which was particularly helpful for subjects like Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Seeing chemical pathways and pictures of pharmacokinetics made the concepts MUCH easier to memorize than simply reading my lecture notes or the traditional textbooks. At the time, when Mac OS 7 and Windows 3.1 were the up-to-date operating systems (early to mid 90s), I used wish that someone would publish a CD-ROM version of these books so I could see the same illustrations in animated form on a computer screen.

Well, the iPad textbooks finally brings that concept to life. In certain fields of study (like medical sciences, as an example), this mixture of multimedia into the textbook is tremendously invaluable and would have allowed for much better retention after a single reading, rather than having to read things over and over again to remember everything. Also, my back would have appreciated the significantly lighter load in my backpack!!! Carrying around books on anatomy, biochemistry, histology, neuroanatomy along with 3 ring binders of course packs AND my notebooks was not a picnic!

Person above you will disagree lol. Look at his avatar though, obviously you shouldn't take him seriously :p Just some arrogant, oblivious to change and negative minded kid.

Not to mention flaunting his Windows system specs on a mac forum. Obviously he is here just to be negative for a kick. Troll imo

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Does anyone else notice a distinct difference in thickness on one of the iPad models used in the new hands-on video?

See Screenshot

Image

I thought something looked a little odd but I didn't care much further to investigate
 
Sorry if I don't want to have a textbook that was dated 10 years old instead of something that doesn't give me back problems just carrying it around and has updated material. Sorry if the time I spend dragging around heavy textbooks disallows me to use that time to make some cash and buy an iPad. Sorry master, I will now go and read my hieroglyphics for my IT class.


Yeah you'll shell out $500 for that new iPad and another few hundred for new digital editions of those textbooks. Let's face it - you would want any excuse to buy an iPad.
 
Sorry if I don't want to have a textbook that was dated 10 years old instead of something that doesn't give me back problems just carrying it around and has updated material. Sorry if the time I spend dragging around heavy textbooks disallows me to use that time to make some cash and buy an iPad. Sorry master, I will now go and read my hieroglyphics for my IT class.
That is nice for you. Now just tell that on the other side of the digital divide. You are in IT and I do not count at all what so ever. I see it get worse everyday. Education does not appear to be helping when there is so much easy access to instant gratification.

I will consider this a victory when access is available to all. Praise under the illusion of altruism is nothing less than delusion. The barriers to entry are there, still.

I really suggest that you visit your local library. You are missing out. Not to mention it is free. Are you even using your campus library?
 
First thing I wanted to do was highlight text in PDF's. Still not possible. What Apple, you don't think students use PDFs? I'm disappointed

Is there a place where I can request this to Cydia developers? I am willing to pay for this feature
 
Digital books with glossy screens? This Sucks.

What? Just use an anti-glare screen film. I have one on my iPad 2 and the screen doesn't look glossy.

Back on topic: Man, we definitely need this in our classrooms here in Malaysia. Less back strain too!
 
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