Piracy is a legitimate concern in the digital age, as more media becomes available at just the click of a mouse button. According to Softpedia.com via The LA Times, Apple is already taking steps to head-off piracy on its new iPad, introduced last month.

iPad textbooks are a buzz-worthy feature of Apple's new product. (photo via PCWorld)

While the product has yet to actually be available for purchase, one of the biggest buzz-worthy features will be the availability of iPad textbooks. College students will be able to access a number of textbooks from a number of publishers with ease. And while there will be an upfront investment of at least $500, the base purchase price of the iPad, textbook costs will be significantly lower for the download when compared to paying face value at the campus bookstore.

Even with a cheaper price tag, iPad textbooks could still fall victim to piracy, which is why Apple is employing the FairPlay digital rights management system (DRM) to ensure media in its new iBookstore are safe. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week’s announcement by Apple CEO Steve Jobs about the release of the company’s newest gadget, the iPad, has set the e-reader world ablaze. For a few years, Amazon’s Kindle has lead that market, making it possible to read everything from novels and cookbooks to magazines and blogs on a conveniently thin digital reading device. Now, heads are turning toward the iPad with similar expectations. One market in particular, college students, who are a key market for Apple, wants to know if the iPad for textbook claims are realistic, and if they trump the Kindle. Read the rest of this entry »

Apple unveils the iPad. (via Engadget)

Student might very soon be handing over a portion of their student loan checks to Apple. As if Macs, iPods and iPhones weren’t already wildly popular with the collegiate crowd, Steve Jobs’ announcement today of the company’s long-anticipated new product, the iPad, will surely be on the must-have school supply list upon its release sometime in 2010 (still unknown at this time).

McGraw-Hill’s CEO, Harold McGraw III, told CNBC that the company’s textbooks will be made available for the on the new iPad (previously thought to be called the Apple Table or iSlate). Additionally, during Steve Jobs’ live presentation, it was announced that other textbook partners would include publishers Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillian, and Hatchett Book Group.

While the Amazon Kindle has been considered to be the next big revolution in e-readers with a possibility of taking over the textbook market, it seems completely plausible that the new iPad from Apple could fulfill that role much more quickly.

Also Read:

iPad iBooks and Kindle DX for Textbook Comparison

Curious how the budding fight between iPad and the Kindle will play out in regards to being used as an e-reader for textbooks? Take a look at this side-by-side comparison of the two devices, weighing the pros and cons for college students.

iPad Textbooks Protected by FairPlay DRM in iBookstore

Apple is already taking steps to head-off piracy on its new iPad, introduced last month. Even with a cheaper price tag, iPad textbooks could still fall victim to piracy, which is why Apple is employing the FairPlay digital rights management system (DRM) to ensure media in its new iBookstore are safe.

Move over Chegg.com. Barnes & Noble is entering the textbook rental arena.

Barnes & Noble is the largest bookstore chain in the country and has been the top selling chain for the past six years. Barnes & Noble sells most of its books through its almost 800 bookstores. However, its quickly growing website also offers over one million titles, and a new line of campus bookstores called Barnes & Noble College Bookstores operates at 636 colleges and universities.

So obviously, Barnes & Noble is a big company. And now, in an effort to help students combat the rising cost of college textbooks, Barnes & Noble is starting to rent its textbooks.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a pilot program at Princeton to assess the value of Amazon’s Kindle DX for students, it seems the class has graded the gadget as a no pass.

Fifty students were given the digital e-reader in the test, and after a mere two weeks of being used in three classes, students are “dissatisfied and uncomfortable.” One student made his case by saying it’s “a poor excuse of an academic tool.”

The greatest criticism is coming from the lack of ability to highlight, mark pages, or make notes in margins. Additionally, anyone trying to cite a page number is out of luck, with one student calling it “meaningless.”

It’s entirely likely that the Kindle DX won’t see the light of day in the spring semester.

Education, like everything else, has its way of evolving. From tablets and scrolls to desk-top chalkboards and then textbooks, the evolution continues in the digital age with laptops. Even for those graduating from high school in the past few years, hearing that textbooks are a thing of the past seems out of place. While they’re not altogether gone just yet, laptop computers are pushing them out in several schools.

More and more school districts are making the progressive move away from the tried-and-true textbook to using more open source, free and relevant resources from the Web. It’s a move being promoted by Governor Schwarzenegger in California that could save his and other states hundreds of millions of dollars a year in furnishing classrooms with textbooks. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no secret that college can be a financial strain for many seeking a higher education. Tuition costs continually increase year over year, and with that, the costs of textbooks do as well. Here are a few suggestions for reducing college expenses, while still having all of the required textbooks necessary to succeed.

• Share with Friends. Split your book bill in half by sharing the books with a friend or classmate. Odds are you’d end up studying together anyway, so it’s probably not necessary for both of you to haul around identical books. Read the rest of this entry »

The end of the school year is fast approaching. A majority of students have either already begun studying for or have been taking finals. Once students have finished their schoolwork for the year, they are left with a nothing more than the knowledge gained, hopefully a good grade, and an overpriced book, which will probably never see the light of day again… by them at least.

College students across America participate in a moneymaking endeavor at the end of each semester. They choose to sell their books to people or companies for pennies on the dollar from their initial investment.  Let’s say for instance, a marketing major is taking 15 hours (5 courses) in a particular semester.  At a minimum, they will be responsible for purchasing five books ranging between $50 and $100 each.  Potentially, this student is required to buy between $250 and $500 of books.  Read the rest of this entry »

Almost one year ago, Amazon launched the Kindle with the sole purpose of cornering the digital books market. For those of you that 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 storage capacity.  They have also integrated a 3G wireless network enabled browser within the system to allow for a 60 second download of your favorite title.

In an attempt to broaden the uses of this device to college students around the world, Amazon has made an agreement, dubbed “The Kindle Project,” with six universities. Amazon has agreed to provide the Fall 2009 freshman class of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University, Princeton University, Reed College, Darden School at the University of Virginia and Arizona State University with Kindle devices preloaded with electronic versions of their chemistry, computer science and freshman seminar classes. Read the rest of this entry »

State education leaders forged a compromise Friday on the teaching of evolution in Texas, adopting a new science curriculum that no longer requires educators to teach the weaknesses of all scientific theories.

The State Board of Education voted 13-2 to put in place a plan that would instead require teachers to encourage students to scrutinize “all sides” of scientific theories, a move criticized by evolution proponents.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which will be in place for the next decade, governs what teachers are required to cover in the classroom, the topics students are tested on and the material published in textbooks. Read the rest of this entry »