Textbook publishers dream of the tablet

I think it's genius and really a long time in coming. The concept of e-textbooks is not new but it would take a company with the vision and the infrastructure like Apple to really make it a reality. Not too mention a way to make it fun and intuitive as well. My analysis is here: http://tastyslate.com/2010/01/08/apple-slate-will-redefine-the-college-textbook-experience/

This idea sounds all fine and good except if you go to the site the prices don't seem to equate to much in the way of savings especially considering the Courseware prices are subscriptions. I know in many cases this would be rare, but what if for some crazy reason you like school and the book you had to have purchased? Well you are screwed then because you only get the book for 180 days. This on top of the eye strain other people have pointed out makes this to be not such a great deal in my eyes.

Oh and if you look at the publisher listings it is pretty small, and for those in Humanities not many of those publishers aside from Longman are producing books we use.

I had great luck with Chegg. I saved $400 on textbooks as an incoming freshman! The books were in great shape, shipped fast and included the CDs. I advise people to stop buying textbooks from the bookstores and rent them instead! Save an extra 5% with promo code CC101071. Use the same code and get an extra $5.00 when selling your old used textbooks.

I can not imagine my wife, in school now, using an e-book. Here current stack is littered with postits, page markers, bent corners, highlighting and pencil scribblings.

After a session of classes, those books look like they've been chewed up and spit out. Worn like her faithful companion, the pink eraser.

I'm an ebook fan, I like reading on my iPod/phone, but that's fiction, which tends to be read once, and very serial.

Text books are much more 'random access' than others. Going back and forth working on problems, re-reading for tests, searching for answers to questions, etc.

Thankfully, she'll likely be out of school before these take hold. But I somehow don't think she's alone in how text books are used.

bad idea all around. publishers aren't going to charge significantly less for books and students wont get any significant savings. knowing how online products work publishers will probably include some type of copyright preventing the resale or transferring of copies from one student to another.

heathsnow is right. students believe in free and will figure out a way... i say if you're a student just avoid paying top dollar for textbooks. here's a few ways how:

they can screw students very bad . the sale e book
url(http://www.smsokul.com)

This isn't reporting, it's a press release. Get rid of this crap!

Textbook publishers want ebooks with massively restrictive DRM so they can screw students even worse than they do now. How about a paragraph about that shows this is a blatant case for the need to implement the right of first sale in an ebook?

It also cuts out the used book market (no used books = higher priced "new" books)

I have yet to see any of my textbooks show up for my Kindle DX, and that's the biggest eBook ecosystem we've had yet — so I don't have much hope for this.

If someone ever makes it happen, I'll switch in a heartbeat. My back and shoulders will thank me.

You can bet that Steve has his eyes on this market, as it is the next great ipod-esque advancement. He let Gates put a computer in every home, but he has several ipods in every home.

We will see electronic texts books in every classroom within the next 5 years. Profs will love it as they can easily update course materials. Students will only have to carry one tablet vs. 5 or 6 course books. All of your materials will be downloaded and you'll be able to make margin notes (helpful for exam prep). Personally, I can't wait for this to occur, and I've been out of school for years.