I'm a poor college kid myself (well maybe not poor) but I know where your coming from. No one at my school would pass up anything that is free, they could care less if it was pirated.
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Textbook Publishers Strike Deals to Bring Content to iPad
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I'm a poor college kid myself (well maybe not poor) but I know where your coming from. No one at my school would pass up anything that is free, they could care less if it was pirated.
Gizmodo just posted an interesting article on how the original iPod and the iPad have received similar criticism. Really interesting to me. Just one more sign that the iPad will turn into necessity in the future.
AND you won't be able to resell them at the end of the semester! What a bargain! Hopefully they will "rent" you the books for 6 months for a decent price, but I'm not hopeful.
Are you being serious? What do you think the CPU/GPU/SOC has to do with Jailbreaking? They've surely made some changes to the iPad to make it more difficult, but it's got little or nothing to do with the choice to use the A4.
I find any subject worth paying to study my brain gives out before my eyes.
So as long as it's good enough to read that long it's still a win.
Exactly. Now all the publishers will do is update even more frequently. If they update every semester, all their DRM has to do is last a semester at a time.
Well, I'm going to college in 2 years... Maybe I'll bring one with me
But this is what I want in iBooks (remember the old laptop?):
1. Annotating
2. Multi-book switching (able to go from 1-3 books on the fly for cross-referencing)
3. Matte screen (I know it won't happen... But a kid can dream, right?)
4. Digital study-guides and work (No more writing!)
But this is what I want in iBooks (remember the old laptop?):
1. Annotating
2. Multi-book switching (able to go from 1-3 books on the fly for cross-referencing)
3. Matte screen (I know it won't happen... But a kid can dream, right?)
4. Digital study-guides and work (No more writing!)
I absolutely HATE that they can sell us this stuff with EXPIRATION dates after we activate it.
**** you textbook manufacturers. I hope you ALL go out of business when wikipedia eventually takes over the world.
Imagine a world where people who actually write textbooks put all the information online into a central database? (currently, they get paid VERY LITTLE for their work, the publishers get all the money.) I would be so happy to avoid those bible-thumping extremists in Texas trying to re-write books to fit their ideologies, and have a place where I can get the information I need without paying those textbook thieves.
Alas, utopia does not exist ...
If the textbooks come with a "notes" feature (the ability to take notes directly on the textbook pages or in a dedicated notes section), I'm sold for $499.
While the chip may have circuitry to perform RSA or symmetric key cryptography (for use in encrypting memory for security if your ipad is lost and password protected), in the end they know that's any such special chip features are pointless - there has to be some method of updating firmware, installing apps, etc. This means that there will always be a hole that, given enough effort, can be exploited. Even bluray, which has one of the more complicated and advanced attempts at preventing "jailbreak"-like behavior, was fairly easily cracked.
Used books?
The real question is, can you resell your license when you are done with the text book, just like a real text book. We have to see what kind of pricing they come out with, but it may be cheaper to buy a used dead tree text book than a digital one.
The real question is, can you resell your license when you are done with the text book, just like a real text book. We have to see what kind of pricing they come out with, but it may be cheaper to buy a used dead tree text book than a digital one.
Lol.
You clearly don't understand what has happened in the past and why this is different.
Your logic sounds exactly like what people said before the iPhone. Before the iPod.
You are going to have to catch up to 2010. Perhaps your paper textbooks are out of date. You could probably benefit from an e-reading device like the iPad to present you more current information, so your arguments and discussions are not so dated and erroneous.
I'll join this club as well. I actually think I got off cheap this semester with $350 in books. I'll gladly buy one of these for grad school if the e-textbook content is there. I hate having to sort through all my books, and then lug them to school with me.
A renting option is a must. That's the only way students are going to be able to save money. I would fork out 500 to rent my books on an ipad for a semester without hesitation. Like i said in another thread, being able to go to the library during finals week with out having your backpack filled with 5 books would be incredible.
Cost (savings?) and e-books on iPad
Apple will have to make the iPad compete with hardcopy books and textbooks in aspects OTHER than cost savings.
E-books are not significantly cheaper than hardcopies because the printing and distribution of a book accounts for a surprisingly small portion of the cost of producing that book. Major factors in the cost of producing a book also include editing and marketing to be paid to the publisher, royalties to the author, and markup by the retail bookseller. That being said, the high retail prices of textbooks can be explained by their relatively narrow market. Furthermore, with Apple adopting the agency model for establishing book pricing in its iTunes bookstore, publishers are unlikely to drop the prices of e-books any time soon.
Therefore, I do not believe we should expect the retail prices of e-textbooks sold through the iTunes bookstore to be significantly less than the price of a new hardcopy. Equally disappointing for the consumer will be the inability to re-sell his/her e-textbook after the semester. All of this will effectively make the true cost of purchasing an e-text book higher than that of a hardcopy.
So how will Apple make a compelling argument to consumers to purchase expensive e-textbooks? I believe they will have to do so through innovative technology that makes it easier to consume more information faster than is possible through traditional means of hardcopy books + computer. They must have some exciting tricks up their sleeve that has to do with note taking in the margins of the e-books, consolidation of one's notes and hi-lighting, integrating interactive media and online/up-to-date content and with e-books, etc. Perhaps we will somehow be able to easily (and in a fun and pretty way that Apple's software designers/engineers are so good at) integrate professors' lectures and a student's class notes with content from the assigned readings (likely from not just one book or textbook, but from many sources).
Just a few of my thoughts on the direction in with the iPad may be forced to develop if it is to truly take a secure hold of the education market.
Apple will have to make the iPad compete with hardcopy books and textbooks in aspects OTHER than cost savings.
E-books are not significantly cheaper than hardcopies because the printing and distribution of a book accounts for a surprisingly small portion of the cost of producing that book. Major factors in the cost of producing a book also include editing and marketing to be paid to the publisher, royalties to the author, and markup by the retail bookseller. That being said, the high retail prices of textbooks can be explained by their relatively narrow market. Furthermore, with Apple adopting the agency model for establishing book pricing in its iTunes bookstore, publishers are unlikely to drop the prices of e-books any time soon.
Therefore, I do not believe we should expect the retail prices of e-textbooks sold through the iTunes bookstore to be significantly less than the price of a new hardcopy. Equally disappointing for the consumer will be the inability to re-sell his/her e-textbook after the semester. All of this will effectively make the true cost of purchasing an e-text book higher than that of a hardcopy.
So how will Apple make a compelling argument to consumers to purchase expensive e-textbooks? I believe they will have to do so through innovative technology that makes it easier to consume more information faster than is possible through traditional means of hardcopy books + computer. They must have some exciting tricks up their sleeve that has to do with note taking in the margins of the e-books, consolidation of one's notes and hi-lighting, integrating interactive media and online/up-to-date content and with e-books, etc. Perhaps we will somehow be able to easily (and in a fun and pretty way that Apple's software designers/engineers are so good at) integrate professors' lectures and a student's class notes with content from the assigned readings (likely from not just one book or textbook, but from many sources).
Just a few of my thoughts on the direction in with the iPad may be forced to develop if it is to truly take a secure hold of the education market.
I doubt the money savings will be anywhere near the level some people seem to think they will be. CourseSmart (backed by a lot of big publishers) already do electronic textbook rentals. You rent the book for 180 days and it costs about 50% that the printed edition would cost to buy. Its already on the iPhone and will be on the iPad on release.
Makes sense from the publisher's perspective if, on average, each physical textbook is "owned," on average, by 2 students (through used book sales). They can cut the price in half and make up the money by eliminating resale.
American University = American Capitalism / Monopoly on Textbooks. Especially since a book is required by the teacher, most of the time the current edition so used books are a no go. I mean you could refuse to get a book and as a result get a very bad grade for a course your paying $50,000 a year to have the ability to take.
Just my textbook cost for Freshmen Year alone:
Physics (current edition) - $100
Economics (used) - $150
Calculus (used) - $150
Intro C++/MATLAB programming DVD - $20
Materials and Processes - $150
Intro to Bio - $110
Total = $680
Of course, I am exploring an iPad for textbooks, in the long run it will probably be cheaper. The strain on my eyes won't bother me, since I look at a computer screen for about 3 hours a day anyway.
I wonder how long it will take publishers to port their content to the iPad and add true multimedia "extras" to the textbooks.