My fellow iPad toting college students, post here and give some suggestions!

[defer09]

I think talking about it is frowned upon on here, but it's amazing that there are people who spend insane amounts of time scanning 1500 page textbooks onto .pdf files

My physics text book from 7th Edition to 8th Edition is exactly the same with the exception of the problems, so if you took the course twice, you'd have to buy the textbook twice to have the right problems to answer!! Prevents us from buying second hand as well... Grrr Textbook manufacturers, they should be happy with charging $250 for the stupid book once.
I'm poor, i quit my job for Uni and spent all my money on my iPad

i cant seem to find any

 

[Mitchrapp]

This Might seem like a silly question but this month I'm heading back to get my Masters, 44 years old, so it's been awhile. But I have a recording device, a nice one to drown out back sounds. My thought was to get the professors thoughts, my thoughts and transcribe it to my PC with some fancy software.

Is there an app that does something like this for the iPad, transcribe? Silly probably but I'm curious. Thanks for any help.

 

[Briview]

This thread is great. Genius works, but nothing beats a humans review. Have tried Notarize and for me it works great. Took a long while to import a 900 page PDF but once it was on, everything was a okay, not buggy at all. Only thing i don't like about Notarize is the inability to import MS Office and iWork files. Anyone know a workaround?

This is a pretty simple workaround, but iWork files and MS Office files can be transformed from any format that they are into PDFs and then imported. Nothing special... and I bet you've already thought about that, but just in case... it's pretty much the only way.

 

[Briview]

IMO, Noterize is still the best lecture/auditorium/classroom experience, but of course, this differs on what type of courses you're taking (art vs. biz vs. math, etc.)

thanks seajay96, that was helpful

is noterize the only one on your list that shares with something like dropbox or do the others do that too?

that is the most useful function to me as i'll just be typing notes and possibly recording lectures but saving onto something like dropbox would be handy so i can keep my files in sync with my mbp at home

As far as I can tell, just Noterize has that.

No, there is also Sundry Notes, which features Dropbox integration and is free.

 

[checor]

I just joined Macrumors so maybe that's why but I can't seem to ind any way to PM people here. I'm really curious as to the sources for these books as well.... Can/will anyone help?

 

[Deamos]

Here is how I use my iPad at my local state college.

1: Goodreader - This thing has been my salvation for pdfs / textbooks. If you can't get your textbooks in PDF, then there is still always the Nook software, CourseSmart, Inkling (nice books, small collection), etc.

2: Evernote - I use this to read my notes, not write them. I hate the fact that Evernote isn't using real text input. However, for organizing and reading it is a bowl of win. Which leads me to my next part...

3: Pages: While not the best text/word processor, it does allow for writing bullet lists which I take my notes in. After finishing with a chapter's note, I email the completed document in PDF to my Evernote email address which places the note in my Evernote notebook.

4: JotNot Pro (iPhone) - I use this to "scan" documents and forward the compiled PDF to Evernote. This allows me to keep important tests for review on hand if I need it. If I want to make annotations, I've been sending the PDF out of JotNot Pro to Dropbox and then forwarding the it on to Noterize via Goodreader. Afterwards, I take the annotated pdf from Noterize and email it on to Evernote. You don't need to use JotNot Pro if you don't have an iPhone. A scanner works just as well or any of the other "scanner" apps for the iPhone if you have one.

5: Dropbox - Essential..absolutely... This works as a great medium for those documents that you need to move around, but don't feel like syncing your iPad to a computer to get them on there. Just place it in your Dropbox and go.

6:Wolfram Alpha - Really Good Program for figuring out those hard to do math problems or getting a clue on what you are doing wrong. I've used it for Calculus and Trig and never have been steered wrong.

7:Todo by Appigo - Awesome Todo app for the iPad. It has been keeping me on task and organized so that I can get things done.

Major thing is workflow. Found that once you have how you are going to do things, the iPad becomes much more useful for schooling.

 

[SteveKnobs]

That's a great list Deamos- but you should totally check out iStudiez Pro. It looks cool, and functions great.

 

[lilo777]

Here is how I use my iPad at my local state college.

1: Goodreader - This thing has been my salvation for pdfs / textbooks. If you can't get your textbooks in PDF, then there is still always the Nook software, CourseSmart, Inkling (nice books, small collection), etc.

2: Evernote - I use this to read my notes, not write them. I hate the fact that Evernote isn't using real text input. However, for organizing and reading it is a bowl of win. Which leads me to my next part...

3: Pages: While not the best text/word processor, it does allow for writing bullet lists which I take my notes in. After finishing with a chapter's note, I email the completed document in PDF to my Evernote email address which places the note in my Evernote notebook.

4: JotNot Pro (iPhone) - I use this to "scan" documents and forward the compiled PDF to Evernote. This allows me to keep important tests for review on hand if I need it. If I want to make annotations, I've been sending the PDF out of JotNot Pro to Dropbox and then forwarding the it on to Noterize via Goodreader. Afterwards, I take the annotated pdf from Noterize and email it on to Evernote. You don't need to use JotNot Pro if you don't have an iPhone. A scanner works just as well or any of the other "scanner" apps for the iPhone if you have one.

5: Dropbox - Essential..absolutely... This works as a great medium for those documents that you need to move around, but don't feel like syncing your iPad to a computer to get them on there. Just place it in your Dropbox and go.

6:Wolfram Alpha - Really Good Program for figuring out those hard to do math problems or getting a clue on what you are doing wrong. I've used it for Calculus and Trig and never have been steered wrong.

7:Todo by Appigo - Awesome Todo app for the iPad. It has been keeping me on task and organized so that I can get things done.

Major thing is workflow. Found that once you have how you are going to do things, the iPad becomes much more useful for schooling.

That's a lot of tools. But still, it does look to me that all these things could be done on netbook much easier and some tools (like Dropbox) are just substitutions for missing features.

 

[SteveKnobs]

That's a lot of tools. But still, it does look to me that all these things could be done on netbook much easier and some tools (like Dropbox) are just substitutions for missing features.

All of these things could be done on a sh*tbook I mean netbook. But we got the iPad for a reason, and it does the "work" stuff just fine, and the "play" stuff even better. It wasnt intended to be a production device, remember? It was meant as a media consumption device- and I think apps like those listed above help achieve a good balance. My opinion of course

 

[Deamos]

That's a great list Deamos- but you should totally check out iStudiez Pro. It looks cool, and functions great.

Looks pretty nice. I would get it, but I'm already using google cal + todo to handle all my scheduling. Also, both are really nice for syncing with my macbook which displays my stuff on Geektool on my mounted HDTV.

 

[PhelpsiPhan]

problem is actually finding any....

any suggestions?

There is a very popular website, had some legal issues a little while ago....

 

[Deamos]

There is a very popular website, had some legal issues a little while ago....

It's unfortunate that it is so hard to get good priced eTextbooks that isn't like a rental or tied to a specific application. My college is in talks right now in moving to 100% eTexts in pdf form so that it can be used on any device for about $30 a class per semester. Hopefully it works out and becomes a good model for other colleges to follow.

Heres a link to a blog covering the plans for our school to change to ebooks.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/03/daytona

 

[saberahul]

It's unfortunate that it is so hard to get good priced eTextbooks that isn't like a rental or tied to a specific application. My college is in talks right now in moving to 100% eTexts in pdf form so that it can be used on any device for about $30 a class per semester. Hopefully it works out and becomes a good model for other colleges to follow.

Heres a link to a blog covering the plans for our school to change to ebooks.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/03/daytona

Yaa lot of colleges are planning on doing this. Will be a nice add on.

 

[Dharma32]

ProfHacker

If you looking for school related iPad apps check out ProfHacker. Its a blog on the Chronicle of Higher Education website. Though some apps are more for professors they do highlight apps that students would find useful.

http://chronicle.com/blog/profhacker/27/

 

[SteveKnobs]

It's unfortunate that it is so hard to get good priced eTextbooks that isn't like a rental or tied to a specific application. My college is in talks right now in moving to 100% eTexts in pdf form so that it can be used on any device for about $30 a class per semester. Hopefully it works out and becomes a good model for other colleges to follow.

Heres a link to a blog covering the plans for our school to change to ebooks.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/03/daytona

I really don't see this happening, at least not for $30. The textbook companies need to make their money, and college bookstores need to make their's too. I could see them being offered for half- price maybe. So what, that put's us at $100 these days?

 

[M-5]

I really don't see this happening, at least not for $30. The textbook companies need to make their money, and college bookstores need to make their's too. I could see them being offered for half- price maybe. So what, that put's us at $100 these days?

I think $100 is still way too much. Well I suppose it depends on what the price of the book is, since most of my books aren't $200.

The reason why I think eBooks should be a lot cheaper than the real version is that publishers don't have to pay to actually produce a physical copy/ship it etc.

The reason why eBooks are often not cost-effective is because publishers usually think they can sell them at just slightly cheaper or even the same price as their physical copies. But why would I buy an eBook which I wouldn't be able to sell back to someone else to get at least some of my money back?

They should charge rental prices of the books for their eBooks. It would be neat if there was a "rental period" similar to Apple's movie rentals but for books that you could rent for a semester.

So you have:
- New Physical Textbook: Buy at full price, sell back at highest price
- Used Physical Textbook: Buy at discounted price, sell back at slightly lower price
- Rented Physical Textbook: Buy at (hopefully a more) discounted price, can't sell back.
- eBooks: hopefully the prices of a rental since you can't sell back.

 

[SteveKnobs]

I think $100 is still way too much. Well I suppose it depends on what the price of the book is, since most of my books aren't $200.

The reason why I think eBooks should be a lot cheaper than the real version is that publishers don't have to pay to actually produce a physical copy/ship it etc.

The reason why eBooks are often not cost-effective is because publishers usually think they can sell them at just slightly cheaper or even the same price as their physical copies. But why would I buy an eBook which I wouldn't be able to sell back to someone else to get at least some of my money back?

They should charge rental prices of the books for their eBooks. It would be neat if there was a "rental period" similar to Apple's movie rentals but for books that you could rent for a semester.

So you have:
- New Physical Textbook: Buy at full price, sell back at highest price
- Used Physical Textbook: Buy at discounted price, sell back at slightly lower price
- Rented Physical Textbook: Buy at (hopefully a more) discounted price, can't sell back.
- eBooks: hopefully the prices of a rental since you can't sell back.

I'm digging this idea, but I rented an etextbook from course smart this semester, and it was was still only $50 cheaper than the physical copy. I think this "revolution" of etexts is still way to new, as very students have an iPad, net book, etc. Textbooks companies, like the television and movie companies, are still a little bit wary of how big digital, portable media will be. I'm sure things will only get better for us iPadders as time moves forward, but are options are going to be limited for quite sometime.

 

[tills24]

I'm digging this idea, but I rented an etextbook from course smart this semester, and it was was still only $50 cheaper than the physical copy. I think this "revolution" of etexts is still way to new, as very students have an iPad, net book, etc. Textbooks companies, like the television and movie companies, are still a little bit wary of how big digital, portable media will be. I'm sure things will only get better for us iPadders as time moves forward, but are options are going to be limited for quite sometime.

I'm a night student who's going to get an iPad to replace text's and use in class, and I would hope that the text companies learn the lessons from the music and movie companies. Overcharge, and people will just find free ways to get your product. Charge a reasonable rate, and people will pay. $1 for a song in iTunes is reasonable. A $50 price reduction on an eText isn't.