It’s no secret that textbooks are expensive, and that they weigh a ton, especially when walking around campus. For some college students, lugging that bag of books across the quad is as close as they get to weight training.
Considering that it’s 2008, do college students really have to own textbooks the way their parents did? For that matter, their great grandparents?
We don’t think so. Earlier this year, Amazon.com released an electronic, wireless reading tool called the Amazon Kindle. You can download entire books from a selection of 140,000- including current New York Times Best Sellers. At any one time, it can store more than 200 book titles. You can download and read newspapers from around the world, as well as access more than 350 blogs, and Wikipedia.
What does this mean for hump-backed college kids? No more textbooks. Amazon is working to release an 8.5″ x 11″ screen model in the new year (currently has a 6″ display). This newer Kindle model will allow Amazon to broaden the marketability of the product- and ideally make it available to college students to download their college textbooks (roughly a $5 billion business in the U.S.).
The Kindle is ideal for college students because its wireless connection is similar to that of a cell phone- so you don’t need a wifi connection. The current Kindle weighs just over half a pound, making it effortless to toss in a bag, or carry in your hand.
The current Kindle sells for $359; the larger version will no doubt cost more. While that might give you sticker shock- consider one semester’s worth of printed books will usually cost more than that. Full-version book downloads currently cost $9.99 each.
posted on July 31st, 2008
by Brandi, Senior Editor
Tags: textbooks
Posted in Campus Life, News | 14 Comments »
January 27th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
[...] the Amazon Kindle has been considered to be the next big revolution in e-readers with a possibility of taking over [...]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:02 am
[...] Supposedly, education publisher McGraw-Hill is discussing a partnership with Apple. The goal is to create e-book versions of its textbooks on the Tablet, similar to the textbooks that are now available on Amazon’s Kindle. [...]
December 13th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I don’t think I will ever own another book, the Kindle is that good.
I would like it if the Kindle could have a ( refer a Friend ) network. you could have your friends that read the same type of book as you read and you could simply send a message from the Kindle directly to them on their Kindle with a sample of the book. You could offer some sort of discount or reward points if that person buys the referred book. You could use your discounts or points to purchase new books on the Kindle.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:02 am
[...] stacks are being replaced with flat-screen TVs, laptop study cubes, and electronic reading devices. And you can’t have a digital learning center without coffee, right? So Cushing Academy is [...]
May 12th, 2009 at 7:28 am
the kndle is awesme!!! u guys should make more!!
May 7th, 2009 at 8:48 am
[...] don’t know, this gadget is a fully functional digital library. Since our previous story on the Kindle, Amazon has made some much-needed updates including a larger screen, sleeker profile, and greater [...]
March 8th, 2009 at 3:20 am
I am always searching for online resources that can help me. Thank you!
February 14th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Just came across your blog on Google. Interesting post, you bring up a few good things to think about. Good luck with the blog.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Thanks for your Kindle review. ^_^
October 27th, 2008 at 10:57 am
[...] introduced the Amazon Kindle to you a couple of months ago. This revolutionary digital reading device can hold up to 200 [...]
August 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
[...] no argument that college textbooks are one of the pricier expenditures in a college student’s budget. Some services like [...]
August 6th, 2008 at 10:44 am
[...] they have to be so expensive? edu_in_review384:http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2008/08/wordless-wednesday-college-textbooks/ [...]
August 1st, 2008 at 10:33 pm
As a Kindle owner and college student, I’d love to see college textbooks available in Kindle format. However, there absolutely must be a way to reference text page numbers that match the print version in order for this to fly. A person reading on a Kindle simply does not have the ability to ‘turn to page 217′.
This is also a serious drawback for anyone who would want to use Kindle books as references for papers, because most of the accepted citation standards require a page number where the information is located.
I understand why the Kindle has ‘locations’ instead of ‘page numbers’; it’s because the font size is adjustable on the fly. But there must be a way to reference page numbers, perhaps on the page’s menu along with the options to bookmark, etc. This would broaden the appeal for book club members in addition to students.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:20 am
This is totally game changing. I wish I had a kindle for my textbooks in college!