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Textbook Publishers Strike Deals to Bring Content to iPad

macnchiefs said:
(…)

I guess some people have the fortitude to read for long periods time on an LCD screen that way but it's not something I can do or interested in... and I'm only 31. Maybe I'm an old fart for my age or something I don't know.

All the power to you I guess.
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You certainly aren't an "old fart".
I'm 26 and for work reasons I spend a lot of time looking at a bright screen in a dark room, or looking directly into a microscope, and for me my eyes get tired real real fast when reading plain text on a screen. Makes it quite difficult to proof-read manuscripts for example.

e-ink doesn't have this problem and I can read for hours on end with my kindle 2 and my eyes don't get any more tired than they would on a plain paper book.
 
I guess everyones eyes are just different. I've read loads of novels and short stories in a dark room using Stanza on my iPhone and never had any eyestrain, and my vision is far from perfect.

I hope later on they offer the option of a Qi type display though.

Anyone know if there are any readability advantages of IPS over other panel technologies? (sorry if this has been covered before)
 
mixel said:
I guess everyones eyes are just different. I've read loads of novels and short stories in a dark room using Stanza on my iPhone and never had any eyestrain, and my vision is far from perfect.
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But, perhaps, if you'd had better reading habits you'd have 20/20. ;)
 
Marcusjlang said:
I can't wait to pirate textbooks, this is gonna be big.
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Hahahaha :D

Exactly what I was thinking...

In any case, iBook store is interesting thing - perhaps the only thing about iPad that makes the device remotely tempting although I am not sure about screen tech used...

We will see how all this turns out in about 12 months time :)
 
ShiftyPig said:
Nobody has yet to say why this is any different than having an iBookstore on my MBP. It says a lot that Apple might have to limit the "killer app" to just the iPad. And good luck switching back and forth between those Omni products and your textbook.
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What "iBookstore" are you already using on your MBP?

The iPad is a smaller, more convenient way of carrying your content with you - if you think you can do better with a MBP then go and buy one - no-one is forcing your to buy an iPad. :rolleyes:

I use my iPod Touch to read all the time - are you telling me I should use an MBP instead?

So, to help out Poindexter from a couple posts back, what is the effectiveness of a textbook on an iPad if the professor can't stop a student from accessing email/IM on the same iPad in an exam? I know I'm too stupid to be able to make that second-level analysis, but the question still remains.
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Any professor or organisation who isn't already blocking mobile phone and wifi signals in an exam environment probably shouldn't be in a position to teach.

(Name-calling makes you sound very immature, btw, and not very smart.)
 
nick9191 said:
How the hell can you spend so much on books for uni?

I've spent £17 ($30) on books this year.

You guys chose the wrong course.
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Dear lord, what course are you doing? Media Studies at Bogcaster Poly?

When I started my degree back in 1993 I believe every single one of my textbooks cost at least £15, and we needed a dozen or more. And we still felt lucky compared to e.g the Aeronautical Engineers or the Opthalmologists, who had mandatory texts going at £100 or more each.

And things aren't any better now, here's one for over £240 second-hand! http://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=288886147&aid=frggb
 
cmaier said:
Some competitor of Apple (can't remember who) said that while the iPad will be able to read other epubs, other ereaders won't be able to read Apple's. It was either Amazon or Adobe who said that.
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So how would they know that? I mean, how many people inside Apple know that?
 
ronjon10 said:
As a few others noted, annotation will be important for this function. I'm hoping for a stylus accessory. Touching to highlight is cool, fiddling with an on screen keyboard to type the note might not be. We'll see though.
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To see how annotation could be implemented, open a pdf in the Mac Preview app and use the annotation tools... imagine doing this with your fingers... everything you need and more!

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That is a good news, BUT that for ibook,which is for US only, not the rest of the world. I live outside US and I won't be able to get any e-books.
 
iBook creator?

I wonder if Apple is going to release some kind of authoring tool for iBooks also that allows individuals to create iBooks, in that enabling everyone to make and publish iBooks on the iBookStore (for an annual subscription as it is per now with Xcode and the app store or even free with an application process as currently in place with music on iTunes).

I can imagine the one or the other hobbyist author would love being able to publish on their own electronically if they can't find anyone for publishing in print. However, they might find a print publisher if they can show success with their works in the iBookStore first.
 
I think the biggest number the experts have thrown out is that Apple will sell only 7 million iPads in the first year. I think we haven't seen the end of the markets Apple is going to blow through. I'm taking bets they will top 10 million in the first year.
 
shen said:
http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/359224392/i-need-to-talk-to-you-about-computers-ive-been

Maybe you should just try thinking, and you would see this has the potential to be a break through device?

Nah! Just keep b!tching!
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Wow! Your linked article is amazing!

I finally understand why I feel as I do about computers in general and the iPhone and iPad in particular.


The article should be required reading for analysts, journalists or anyone interested in computers.

BTW, I am 70 years old and have been using/programming/selling/supporting IBM mainframe computers since 1956, and Apple computers since 1978. I am going to share the article with my grandkids (10, 11 1/2, 14) who are fellow "new worlders" at ease with iMacs, iPods and iPhones.

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Yes, but is there any way to look at a book and write a paper at the same time? This is the one "no multitasking" hurdle I can't figure a way around. Any reading or notetaking I do ultimately finds its way into some sort of paper, but it seems like I won't have any way to use Pages while also looking at a book on the iPad.

I imagine the books will have some sort of notetaking system, but this all needs to work with a word processor eventually. I'll feel a bit silly reading on the iPad and writing on my laptop: might as well have the book on my laptop then.
 
SandynJosh said:
I think the biggest number the experts have thrown out is that Apple will sell only 7 million iPads in the first year. I think we haven't seen the end of the markets Apple is going to blow through. I'm taking bets they will top 10 million in the first year.
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I'd make that number 50 million. Those analysts get their ideas from numbers, they can not imagine, they are bare of all fantasy, bare of all imagination. They interpret trends but need "historic" data for that and to be honest they failed badly in all predictions for the IPod, the IPhone and the IPod Touch because they tried to "convert" or "transcribe" sales numbers from other devices as a basis but failed to see that the device and the IPad cannot be compared.

Why? Simple because of the iTunes store, the app store, the even yet growing iBook store and for an already existing group of potential users coming from Mac's, IPod's, IPhones PLUS those people of whom we think that they'd never buy a computer - and they won't, but they will love their iPads :) The price for that thing is so low that buying it is actually a no brainer for people who do not need computers. A modern TV set might cost more. A new oven or dish washer or .. might cost more also.
 
tmuller said:
I don't know what you are going to school for, but MOST of my text books in College were in the $135-140 range back in 1995-99. I had several semesters in College where my book charge for the semester was almost to $700, Ipad bought and paid for!
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I hope you are not counting on books for the iPad to be free. If you look at the music/movie industries as examples, the easier to distribute digital media was only marginally less expensive than the CDs and DVDs they had to ship around.

The industry will pocket most of the savings, not you.
 
HSJR said:
That is a good news, BUT that for ibook,which is for US only, not the rest of the world. I live outside US and I won't be able to get any e-books.
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That's not correct. iBook works with the ePub standard and is able to read any ePub book from any online e-book reseller. Just look around in your country for a store that sells this format and you can be sure that you can sync your ebooks to the iPad.

It's true though that the books in the iTunes store will not be available globally but there is the alternative described above, which should work just fine.
 
liavman said:
When I worked with text books for college courses, I usually have a few books open and study them together. How will one do that with e-books on an iPad? May be Apple would allow opening multiple books at the same time, possibly in a split screen format?
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How do you do it now? If you can describe it in the physical world, likely, it can be implemented in the electronic world of the iPad.

From the perspective of an iPhone/iPad Developer... having multiple documents open at the same time is not difficult, nor is switching among them or searching/scrolling through them. One needs to decide how to display them:

1) concurrent open windows (like on a Mac or PC OS)
2) tabbed single window
3) split single window
4) HUD overlay

The iPad SDK offers several new constructs to assist with 2,3 and 4.

While the Mac SDK supports (1) concurrent, resizable, overlaping windows... the iPad SDK does not. A Developer could implement this on his own... but it would be contrary to the design of the iPad: focus on a single window.

With a litle thought, I beleive that a solution could be implemented to allow the reader to customize the display to his current needs.

Another consideration: Will the ebook APIs be available to developers?

Or... you could use multiple iPads :)

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steve-p said:
If Apple don't lock down their ePub books with DRM then the Nook looks like a better dedicated device than the Kindle, as it can read ePub and is only $259:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/

I'd be surprised if they didn't use DRM though.
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I would agree, but I want color, I want to be able to read magazines in color. The only reason I have held off getting a Nook was to see what Apple was going to create.
 
RE: Reducing barrier to entry

The big deal here isn't just that the major publishers are agreeing to all go digital, it is that it will make it much easier for small publishers and authors to get their books out there. Imagine how much more competitive the market could get! That is what could drive down the sales prices, not just eliminating printing and retail sales distribution for physical copies.

In addition to new for-profit smaller publishers, this would also lower the barrier for non-profit/creative commons distribution of textbooks ala wiki model where professors collaborate on writing a textbook and maybe get compensated a small amount but that the overall price is much lower.

Also should be great for students, no more running out of books at the bookstore or needing to purchase in advance online - even if you register for a class late. Even semesters after the class is done, you could continue to carry good reference books, way more convenient. I think I had two bookcases worth of texts by the end of my 4 year degree, even with turning some back in for credit (some could not get credit because I had highlighted or written on).
 
Digitalclips said:
I suspect many of the so called detractors we get on the Apple forums these days are PC trolls or PC associated product trolls who sense their very existence is threatened. Out of curiosity, I wonder how many Mac users spend hours on PC sites making stupid and negative comments? Personally I have never even been on one and I use PCs and Macs. I simply enjoy the adventure on the Mac forums as Apple continually advances computing and bring paradigm shifts to the industry.
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There are radical fanbois all over the place. Mac fanbois are just as radical as the Pc ones and they are everywhere.



I am not very convinced about the iPad. However, it would be the perfect gadget for my parents.
 
Digitalclips said:
I suspect many of the so called detractors we get on the Apple forums these days are PC trolls or PC associated product trolls who sense their very existence is threatened. Out of curiosity, I wonder how many Mac users spend hours on PC sites making stupid and negative comments? Personally I have never even been on one and I use PCs and Macs. I simply enjoy the adventure on the Mac forums as Apple continually advances computing and bring paradigm shifts to the industry.
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On the PC site that I visit there were 2 yesterday. But personally my biggest complaint with the people on Mac forum is that they know very little of non mac related news, so I would recommend actually going on PC sites. Though the topics will be different, more about components and how they match up in terms of power and price compared to similar components. More about benchmarks and the business side of things, like AMD and how much money they are losing, etc.
 
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