Textbooks. Ancient.

[Jesda]

I've switched my books and magazines back to paper. Magazines are more fun to read in random order, jumping around from page to page.

Textbooks, however, follow an organized lesson plan. I prefer them on paper but most would benefit from digital, searchable text with animated graphics and videos.

http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/02/future ... dcast.html

Key points from the full video interview (below) include:

Textbooks taking on less of a role in higher-ed — They may not completely disappear but textbooks will lose their spot as the primary teaching element in many courses. [Discussed at the 3:04 mark.]

The K-12 shift will take longer — Budgets, regulatory issues, etc., mean the transition from print to digital won't happen anytime soon. [Discussed at 3:30.]
"Customized self-publishing" is the future — It's all about instructors having access to a large repository of content that they can build their own custom solutions around. [Discussed at 4:43.]

Is $14.99 the e-textbook price of the future? — Apple took a page out of Amazon's playbook by introducing the first wave of iBooks Author-created textbooks at $14.99. Even the initial $9.99 price for most Kindle titles has crept up, thanks to the agency model, and $14.99 isn't likely to become the standard e-textbook price. [Discussed at 8:12.]

Native app vs. HTML5 or EPUB 3 — It's not so much about the platform architecture as it is about the content and how cost-effective that platform is. [Discussed at 17:10.]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh7zB-kPh98[/youtube]

This would eliminate or reduce the role of traditional publishers, save students thousands of dollars, and cut out a lot of the middle men (me).
Campus bookstores make a killing from traditional textbooks and receive kickbacks from publishers, so most schools are a bit reluctant to make the switch.

[Razi]

Man, $14.99 e-textbooks would be so awesome.

Cheaper textbooks that I can download and easily search through would be amazing.

[danshaz82]

Man, $14.99 e-textbooks would be so awesome.

Cheaper textbooks that I can download and easily search through would be amazing.

NO! you must pay 299.99 and use it only once!

[nissangirl74]

Would love to have all of mine digitized so I could download them to the iPad. It sure would make my trek across campus a lot easier on my back / shoulders.

That being said, I love the tactile feel of a "real" book for studying and doing homework. Yes, I am old. Don't care.

[alms24sebring]

It still has the same advantages vs disadvantages. But still if its not $250 for a math book then Im all in.

I could never own a Kindle though

[krash]

That being said, I love the tactile feel of a "real" book for studying and doing homework.

I have the same thing. I don't know why, but I can't nearly as much done on an e-textbook than I can in the physical book.

[BusyBadger]

Man, $14.99 e-textbooks would be so awesome.

Cheaper textbooks that I can download and easily search through would be amazing.

NO! you must pay 299.99 and use it only once!

Happened to me at SIU a couple of times, once with a set of books that was a brand new edition and wasn't available used.

Nothing like schlepping some books down to 710 and being told they aren't buying them back.

[bigbadberry3]

I liked my math and science texts (physics major when I was in school). I could write in them and could have multiple open at the same time.

[skydragoness]

Would love to have all of mine digitized so I could download them to the iPad. It sure would make my trek across campus a lot easier on my back / shoulders.

That being said, I love the tactile feel of a "real" book for studying and doing homework. Yes, I am old. Don't care.

Feel the same way on the latter, however when it comes to costs for a college student I would have loved e-text books back when I was in school. God damn 76lb Biology/history books.

Also the thread title made me think of this guy:

[nissangirl74]

It's bound to happen. I know some kids on campus that spent as much, or more, on textbooks as they did on tuition because some classes require more than one book / software program.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I wish I could get both. I've paid for my physical books; I'd like a digital version of each as well. Both have their benefits. Reading in bed, I prefer paper (to get picky, I prefer hardcover, which is why my bookshelf has a few duplicates). I want to be able to scan an ISBN barcode on my hardcovers and get a digital edition. I realize that could be taken advantage of, but there's got to be a middle ground somewhere. At the very least, retailers like Amazon and B&N who offer printed and digital versions should start including free ebook editions with physical purchases. I might not get my back-catalog built up digitally, but at least I'll be set going forward.

But I love the portability that digital copies provide. I can take my nook to work and read on my lunch break. Don't have to carry a full-size book, don't have to decide on just one book to take with me. Same with waiting in dealer service departments or doctors' offices or anything else. Lots of books, in my pocket.

I do not like retailer-specific publication formats. I love the extra features of Nook Magazines but hate that I can't read them on my phone, which is always with me. I don't like that iPad versions of magazines tend to get extra-extra features over other formats. I'd like an equal playing field. DRM is one thing, but doesn't it make sense to allow as many people to use your store's content as possible? Restricting playback is foolish. I can run Amazon's Kindle app on a hacked Nook (or B&N's Nook app on a hacked Kindle) but there are compatibility issues with "enhanced" titles.

Ebook selections still suffer, too. I can't get C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy digitally yet. It's "coming soon" and I've preordered, but it's silly that I can't just get it. I can't get the copyright-Hell-bound Dune Encyclopedia digitally. And it's disgusting how hard it is to find high quality, free editions of public-domain works. You end up paying for the good ones, and the free ones are lazy, PDF-converted scans of someone's stained paperback.

For textbooks specifically, digital is the way to go. Portability (no more lugging huge hardbound behemoths), searchability, enhanced digital features, reduced costs (no print materials to expend)... Lots of win. Plus with tablets or other digital devices, you could have your notepad and your textbook on the same screen. A whole backpack in your hand.