[zerospinboson]

CNet article:

The Kindle DX runs you $489 as an upfront investment, and the average student spends $488 on new and used course materials a year. In a nutshell, Amazon is asking the average student to fork over more money for the Kindle and then buy the textbooks too.

Add it up and the average student is losing money on the Kindle DX in that first year. Let's say Amazon can halve your textbook costs to $250 a year--you'll still be shelling out nearly $750 in year one.

Over two years, a student will still be behind on the Kindle DX return. Going the paper route on textbooks yields a two-year cost of $976. But the Kindle still runs you $13 more over two years.

In year three, that student will start saving money via the Kindle ($1,464 on paper textbooks vs. $1,239). The big caveat here: I didn't include the used-book market and assumed that the Kindle DX still functions well. Another big assumption: All the textbooks you'll need will be available on the Kindle (not likely). If Amazon can cut a student's textbook costs to $100 a year, the case for the Kindle DX would obviously look better.