Amazon Announces E-Textbook Rentals

[Andy Nguyen]

Interesting development in the world of textbook industry. Would you prefer rent a book over buy the paper copy or ebook?

Source: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/amazon-announces-digital-textbook-rentals/32336
Amazon has rolled out an e-textbook-rentals program, which could bring more attention to the emerging model of treating textbooks like online subscriptions.

Students can now download temporary copies of textbooks on Amazon’s Web site for reading on a Kindle e-book reader or on a computer, tablet, or smartphone running free Kindle software. The system lets customers specify rental periods lasting anywhere from a month to a year. Amazon argues that the digital rentals can save students up to 80 percent compared with traditional print textbooks.

For example, one textbook, Intermediate Accounting, which retails at $197 in print and $109 as an e-book, would cost $57 to rent from Amazon for three months. Students have the option to purchase the e-book during or after a rental period, and can extend rental period in daily increments.

Students will also be able to refer to any margin notes and highlights they made in their digital textbooks after the rental period is over. Amazon has tens of thousands of titles available for digital rental from major publishers like John Wiley & Sons and Elsevier and Taylor & Francis.

 

[joel_b]

Coursesmart already does this (mentioned in the article). I didn't really like studying from a screen personally. At least with Coursesmart you could print 10 pages at a time. There is no mention of printing of pages via the amazon option, which would be a huge negative if it's not part of it.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

If they allow printing, wouldn't students just rent for the shortest time and print the whole book out?

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

It is about time. I had all of my books in PDF form when I did my masters. Text books are generally a huge waste of money with few exception.

 

[alain]

Before I start, I have an iPad, a Kindle DX, an iPod Touch and an Android phone. I also try the regular Kindle once. I have used them one time or another to read text books (mostly books with a lot of math formulas). This is my opinion regarding eReaders for these type of books (this might not apply to regular reading).

Ipod Touch/Android Phone: The screen is too small. It means you only have a little section of a single page.

Regular Kindle: Kindle is still small. Formulas render poorly on the screen regarding of the book format.

Kindle DX: Really good on outside settings. Rendering is excellent. Battery life is really good. Speed blows chunks. Reading page after page is fine but if you want to use a book as a reference, it becomes a real pain. If you want to read in bed at night you will need an extra light.

iPad: Rendering is excellent. Reading outside could be a problem with glare but it is excellent in inside settings. You can read in bed at night without problems. Battery life is a problem if you forget to charge it (I have).

I still like the versatility of the iPad. I don't read that much under the sun so it's ok with me. The iPad has reader apps that allow me to scribble and highlight text. Highlighting on the Kindle DX is possible but sort of annoying. I have used both on and off since my son takes over the iPad. As long as it is simple reading both of them are find. If you want to search for terms and do any other fancy stuff, the iPad is much better.

 

[joel_b]

If they allow printing, wouldn't students just rent for the shortest time and print the whole book out?

It takes a lot of dedication to print out a textbook in 10 page increments, but yes, that's correct.

http://www.coursesmart.com/ourproducts

edit: oh they support iPad too.

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

The idea of using textbooks makes me palmface on so many levels. They are a completely and utterly outdated model used to milk students of money they don't have.

Honestly, I wish everybody would follow the Prof. Thiele model (I call it the Prof. Thiele model because she was the only one that ever used this technique--AND IT WORKS!): large PDFs full of blank questions that get covered in the lecture--so in that way, the students write their own textbooks, using only the parts that the professors deem necessary. This has multiple advantages:

1) Eliminates language barrier through superior organization. Now, granted, a French accent is far easier to deal with than some others, but knowing exactly where in the lecture where we are is amazing.

2) Organizes information in a compact manner, cutting out all of the chaff that students do not need to read in the textbook. So when it comes time to study for exams, the important stuff is right there, and everyone has the same stuff.

3) Saves money. Obvious one is obvious.

4) Better connects professor with students. "Read chapters 7 and 8 before next lecture and we'll cover some material from there" is far more vague than filling out notes in class and reading some supplementary materials (if that) for some additional background.

Edit: that said..."renting" a PDF?

What the flying f**k? Why would you need to rent a PDF? You can download a zillion of them and keep them all on today's devices. Greedy companies are greedy -_-...

 

[atreides]

I see people gaming this. Rent a book, extract the contents to pdf and then return book. Unless they won't let you return the book till your lease ends. This is just another very profitable business model... I see for some books, it costs up to half of the paperback price to rent for a few months

 

[alain]

Honestly, I wish everybody would follow the Prof. Thiele model (I call it the Prof. Thiele model because she was the only one that ever used this technique--AND IT WORKS!)...

It works for you. Don't assume it will work for everybody else.

2) Organizes information in a compact manner, cutting out all of the chaff that students do not need to read in the textbook. So when it comes time to study for exams, the important stuff is right there, and everyone has the same stuff.

Do you study to learn or to pass an exam? In some classes, I did study to just to pass the exam but there were plenty of subjects that I study to learn. I rather read a very good book than a bunch of Cliff Notes.

You can download a zillion of them and keep them all on today's devices. Greedy companies are greedy -_-...

This is probably illegal. I spoke with somebody who writes textbooks. He is a well known author in his field. He is affraid to write any more books because his current books are easily downloadable on the Internet. So there's is very little incentive for him to do it.

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

I learn by doing. There's only so much that students can do in a semester. And all of the stuff they're responsible for doing is fair game for an exam. So studying to learn and studying to pass an exam should ideally be one and the same.

As for illegal...*zzZzzzZzZz*...as for writing any more books...considering that most textbooks are Xth edition with just some details changed from the last one and cost an exorbitant price (certainly more than any other sort of hardcover), frankly, I can't say I have much sympathy for anyone involved in the textbook publishing industry.

If textbooks cost a reasonable amount rather than half the price of a current-generation game system (which is a computer for all intents and purposes), the textbook industry might have a leg to stand on.

But as it is right now? Download away, people. Make those companies realize that we're not going to pay their extortion monies.

After all, E=mc^2, and it's stood that way for about a century. The math behind the stuff doesn't change. Even financial engineering has its roots in times before most current students were born.

Milking students with no money = fail.

 

[atreides]

This is probably illegal. I spoke with somebody who writes textbooks. He is a well known author in his field. He is affraid to write any more books because his current books are easily downloadable on the Internet. So there's is very little incentive for him to do it.

Publishers, Universities and Authors should share blame for this. I walked by the bookstore a few days ago and saw an Intro to Economics book with a $265 price tag. To make matters worse, the book was produced for a particular professor/class. I learnt from the service reps that books like that have no resale value as the professor will decide that "Economics" has changed so much in the span of a semester or one year to warrant a new version which of course is required because the professor will assign homework/exercises from his custom version.

For a freshman taking 5 0r 6 classes ... spending $1000 on books per semester is not far fetched. I think people find creative ways around a system whenever they're pushed to the wall.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

"Textbook publication" is a bottom-line oriented industry, just like everything else. That means people should not be surprised to see gimmick, shady, illegal practices from people involved.

I remember reading something about some disruptive startup that is working to change the whole textbook landscape. Let me try to see if I can find it.