Surely buying a Kindle has lots of advantages: it will enable us to buy virtually any book from amazon at lower prices, it is provided with e-ink technology allowing us to read pdf books as well.
Moreover, the new Kindle Fire can be considered the cheapest tablet as it hosts both entertainment and office tool software.
Re: text books
driven
11/16/2011 9:05:46 AM
While we wait for e-books, companies like Chegg and Bookrenter are among the best options for college kids. Most people I know have had positive experiences with both firms.
Re: text books
Tenacious
11/16/2011 9:03:28 AM
And don;t forget how you'll be paid $3 for that book at the end of the term, and then the book store will turn around and resell the used book for $200.
I long for the day when text books become e-books. They are one of the big scams of college life. $300 or $400 for a single paper book? That's outrageous. It's not like it's hand printed or something!
Re: e-reader demographics
back2basicz
11/15/2011 1:45:35 PM
Bargain,
I understand and appreciate the driver for keeping e-book pricing same as in the physical world.Only problem being this-Sooner or later a publisher or two is going to start offering bulk discounts(in a bid to gain more marketshare)-Yes it wil happen even in the staid world of Textbook publishing.
If that does'nt happen then I dont see how e-book purchases will take off vs Used Book purchases(especially in todays deflationary world of falling expectations,incomes and benefits).Just having the portability advantage(for e-books) is not gonna cut it.
Some revenue is much better than No revenue(after all the publishers make ZERO dollars on Used Books)...
Regards
Ashish.
Re: e-book pricing
yalanand
11/15/2011 5:56:03 AM
I think that once e-books become more widely used the price will come down dramaticly since there will be far less books printed.
@TelecomFreq, I am not sure if the number of books printed will reduce because there are people who prefer reading hard-book rather than e-book. Overall reading experience with hard-bind is totally different than reading e-book.
Re: e-book pricing
yalanand
11/15/2011 5:49:59 AM
e-Book pricing models are still in flux. Today the retail price on many books is set by the publisher, and this causes a large amount of variety in the prices we pay.
@PredictableChaos, I totally agree with you. A number of kindle users are upset about high e-book prices. For example "The Fifth Witness" costs $14.99 while the hardcover currently runs $14.28 on Amazon and $14.73 on BarnesandNoble.com. Surprising to see e-book price same as that of hardcover.
Re: e-reader demographics
yalanand
11/15/2011 5:40:52 AM
Text book publishers don't seem all too interested in making their products available for kindle.
@Bargain Bin, Since this is new technology, book publishers are still sceptical about the success of this. Once its prooved that kindle is the future, I am sure they will have no other way left but to support kindle to stay in the competition.
Re: e-reader demographics
yalanand
11/15/2011 5:32:57 AM
imagine how much better a Kindle would be on a poor kid's back than a 60 pound bag of text books.
@Cat tail, I totally agree with you. Kindle would really help kids to reduce their bag weight but am just worried about the side affects of Kindle on kids eyes.
Re: e-reader demographics
Bargain Bin
11/14/2011 11:53:42 PM
Text books can also be rented for relatively cheap prices. However, for those who choose to buy, purchasing used text books allows students to sell them back at the end of the semester and recover some of the money they spent. If text books go completely digital, I can imagine they'd still be pretty expensive (keeping in mind what another poster on this article said about the prices of e-books compared to their physical counter parts), and wouldn't allow for any "rebates," if you will. Just another way to look at it.
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