Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Why do you believe that? The "Fairplay" DRM system that iBooks uses ties a book to an iTunes account, not to a specific iPad. I'd be very surprised if Apple changed their DRM system after so many years.
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They may have to. I can think of three scenarios.
The school keeps the iPads and the iBooks. In that case they would want an easy way to manage all of their books through one account. This would require some sort of site licensing that would allow them to allocate books to particular readers based upon grade (elementary) and classes enrolled in (high school and beyond).
The school keeps the iBooks but not the iPads. In that case they would need the above privileges in addition to the ability to revoke the textbooks at the end of the year (elementary) and with changing enrollment (high school and beyond). The ability to assign an iPad to more than one account would also be necessary (i.e. one for school and one for personal use, since the student/family are the device's owner).
The school doesn't own the iBooks or the iPads. Chances are pretty good that they would still require all of the above features, in addition to the ability to transfer the rights from institutional purchases. (I'm assuming public funding here.)
And if publishers are selling textbooks at $15 a pop, I highly doubt that options 1 and 2 are on the list. They are NOT going to pillage their revenues simply to claim that they are technologically savvy.