e-textbooks

us024077 · 01-05-2010, 03:56 PM

I am starting on a second career, and starting school next week to take a couple of prerequisite courses needed for my Master's program.

The local bookstore has my books for the following prices:

Book A - 120 new, 88 used
Book B - 135 new, 94 used

Now I can get electronic versions of these books for my COMPUTER:

Book A - 68 for 150 day license
Book B - 77 for 150 day license

Neither book is available for my Kindle DX (or any other e-reader).

Does this make sense? I would gladly pay the electronic verison price if I could use it on my Kindle.

So what is a resourceful student to do? Buy the books from Amazon sellers:

Book A - 54 new
Book B - 66 new

And then scan them into pdf files, and convert them for the Kindle. I hope the sell the books to other students the first day or so of class, maybe for half what I paid. Everybody wins.

When will textbook publishers learn to deal with the modern era? They seem to be dimmer than the music publishers.

rwillmer · 01-06-2010, 07:50 AM

I'd be interested to know which these books are that aren't available. I've just added a pile of bookstores which are offering etextbooks in various formats, and it would be useful to know whether they'd show up anywhere.

Could you tell me please? Either PM me or just reply here.

Thanks
Rachel

drofgnal · 01-06-2010, 08:04 AM

I sure wouldn't pay for a 150 day liscence. I buy the book I want it forever. I'd go with paper and the amazon sellers if you can't find it in ebook format. I was a chem major in grad school and I did an awful lot on margin anotation and equation solving in margins for computer versions, paper was really for my purposes better. That was 30 years ago and I still have them in my bookshelf.

markbot · 01-06-2010, 10:02 AM

The 150 day license is like buying and selling a book. you could probably buy and sell the used book for a lot less than $60 of total cost.

the 150 day license looks like a bad deal. i dislike textbook makers. they insult our intelligence. if we r taking a course that requires that book, we are probably smart enough to realize what a good deal is!

bigtymer · 01-13-2010, 09:01 PM

Yeah I am gonna have to go with drofgnal on this one; stick with paper and hang on to them. If you are gonna be studying hard nothing beats paper. Quick annotations and highlighting are available to ebooks but for me easier to do with a pen rather than the keyboard on the Kindle. Also, if these books have diagrams or photos, color is essential. In addition to all that when discussing things having a page number to reference is nice.

01-05-2010, 03:56 PM	#1
us024077 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: kindle dx	e-textbooks I am starting on a second career, and starting school next week to take a couple of prerequisite courses needed for my Master's program. The local bookstore has my books for the following prices: Book A - 120 new, 88 used Book B - 135 new, 94 used Now I can get electronic versions of these books for my COMPUTER: Book A - 68 for 150 day license Book B - 77 for 150 day license Neither book is available for my Kindle DX (or any other e-reader). Does this make sense? I would gladly pay the electronic verison price if I could use it on my Kindle. So what is a resourceful student to do? Buy the books from Amazon sellers: Book A - 54 new Book B - 66 new And then scan them into pdf files, and convert them for the Kindle. I hope the sell the books to other students the first day or so of class, maybe for half what I paid. Everybody wins. When will textbook publishers learn to deal with the modern era? They seem to be dimmer than the music publishers.

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01-06-2010, 07:50 AM	#2
rwillmer luzme.com Posts: 64 Karma: 8701 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Glo, iPhone, iPad	I'd be interested to know which these books are that aren't available. I've just added a pile of bookstores which are offering etextbooks in various formats, and it would be useful to know whether they'd show up anywhere. Could you tell me please? Either PM me or just reply here. Thanks Rachel

01-06-2010, 08:04 AM	#3
drofgnal Wizard Posts: 1,228 Karma: 7838248 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Ipad Pro/Kindle Oasis 3/iPhone 13 Pro Max	I sure wouldn't pay for a 150 day liscence. I buy the book I want it forever. I'd go with paper and the amazon sellers if you can't find it in ebook format. I was a chem major in grad school and I did an awful lot on margin anotation and equation solving in margins for computer versions, paper was really for my purposes better. That was 30 years ago and I still have them in my bookshelf.

01-06-2010, 10:02 AM	#4
markbot Guru Posts: 612 Karma: 7511929 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2	The 150 day license is like buying and selling a book. you could probably buy and sell the used book for a lot less than $60 of total cost. the 150 day license looks like a bad deal. i dislike textbook makers. they insult our intelligence. if we r taking a course that requires that book, we are probably smart enough to realize what a good deal is!

01-13-2010, 09:01 PM	#5
bigtymer Member Posts: 13 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Yeah I am gonna have to go with drofgnal on this one; stick with paper and hang on to them. If you are gonna be studying hard nothing beats paper. Quick annotations and highlighting are available to ebooks but for me easier to do with a pen rather than the keyboard on the Kindle. Also, if these books have diagrams or photos, color is essential. In addition to all that when discussing things having a page number to reference is nice.

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