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Amazon to Launch Kindle for Textbooks
Wall St Journal ^ | 5/5/2009 | GEOFFREY A. FOWLER and BEN WORTHEN

Posted on 05/05/2009 11:14:26 AM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies

Amazon.com on Wednesday plans to unveil a new version of its Kindle e-book reader with a larger screen and other features designed to appeal to periodical and academic textbook publishers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Beginning this fall, some students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland will be given large-screen Kindles with textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar already installed, said Lev Gonick, the school's chief information officer. The university plans to compare the experiences of students who get the Kindles and those who use traditional textbooks, he said.

Amazon has worked out a deal with several textbook publishers to make their materials available for the device, Mr. Gonick added. The new device will also feature a more fully functional Web browser, he said. The Kindle's current model, which debuted in February, includes a Web browser that is classified as "experimental."

Five other universities are involved in the Kindle project, according to people briefed on the matter. They are Pace, Princeton, Reed, Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amazon; ebooks; hitech; kindle

1 posted on 05/05/2009 11:14:26 AM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

absolutely great idea


2 posted on 05/05/2009 11:25:50 AM PDT by griswold3 (a good story is more compelling than the search for truth)
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To: griswold3

Can you explain the tech a little more? Is it basically a laptop type tool that you can load “online” books onto it? Are these books free/lower cost/ etc than regular physical books?

Thanks


3 posted on 05/05/2009 11:28:42 AM PDT by icwhatudo
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

I like reading paper books more, but I have to say, being able to immediately find what you are looking for is a big plus to ebooks. It has come in handy at times, and it especially would for textbooks when you are answering questions you know you just read but can’t find the exact passage. Just do a search and boom you are there.


4 posted on 05/05/2009 11:28:57 AM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: griswold3

Definitely - will lighten the backpack load for students if they can load all textbooks onto one Kindle (or similar device).


5 posted on 05/05/2009 11:30:13 AM PDT by knittnmom (FReeper formerly known as 80 Square Miles)
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To: icwhatudo
The Kindle is roughly 5 inches by 9 inches. It's about as thick as a pencil. It displays one page at a time -- although the amount of text on a page is less than a normal book. You can increase font size (which can be nice). One of the things I don't especially like is that you can end up hitting the "next page" button with your thumb with great rapidity if the words-per-page count is low and your reading speed is fast.

There are many free books available. You can also buy Kindle version books from Amazon fro $9.99.

6 posted on 05/05/2009 11:35:42 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (American Revolution II -- overdue)
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To: icwhatudo

You get to pay for an electronic book that is priced lower than a new book. Most likely not lower than a used copy.

New and used books sometimes can be sold back to the bookstore for as much as 50% of original cost. More often you get 20% of new cost and sometimes zero money back.

Electronic books can not be resold.

Publishers make more money, don’t have to pay to print and ship the book and kill off the used textbook book market. Pretty slick.


7 posted on 05/05/2009 11:37:26 AM PDT by listenhillary (Rahm Emmanuel slip - A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.)
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

Yeah, the e-version of the textbooks will STILL cost a couple hundred a pop. Forcing students to buy vastly overpriced books is just another consequence of liberal politics.


8 posted on 05/05/2009 11:38:07 AM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: knittnmom

It will absolutley destroy the used book market. If I didn’t sell my textbooks at the end of the year, I wouldn’t have been able to buy gas to get home and drink until my first paycheck from the summer job came in.

Seriously, this technology will revolutionize the publishing business. The price for textbook will probably not drop a lot and the after market is eliminated; so the textbook publishers will gain a great margin enhancement.


9 posted on 05/05/2009 11:43:29 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (Ein Volk, Ein Riech, Ein Ein.)
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To: listenhillary
Dear listenhillary,

Yeah, but I watch my high schooler go off to school every morning with a backpack and a briefcase full of books. To get all his textbooks on one device, and to only have to carry that and his notebooks would be worth quite a bit in itself.

As well, although there is a big market for used textbooks, publishers and authors try to reduce it to a minimum by coming out with new editions and revisions, and assigning the latest and greatest. Thus, it's rare when you can get all your textbooks for a semester or a year used, and you still have to pay full freight for at least some of the books.

Thus, if the electronic texts are priced reasonably, it will still likely bring down total costs to individual students, even if it makes used texts an increasingly rare commodity.


sitetest

10 posted on 05/05/2009 11:46:53 AM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: listenhillary
Electronic books can not be resold.

If they think that resourceful college students won't be able to crack the digital textbooks and put them on the dorm network then they have a surprise coming.

I expect peer-to-peer sites to get flooded with cracked textbooks every fall. If you have a widely used book required for your course, then it will be there.

11 posted on 05/05/2009 11:47:31 AM PDT by dan1123 (Liberals sell it as "speech which is hateful" but it's really "speech I hate".)
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

Politically-correct, America-hating slanted and sanitized drivel meets the Information Superhighway. Yip Yip Yahoo!


12 posted on 05/05/2009 11:53:59 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: dan1123

I already now how to crack them. It’s pretty low tech.


13 posted on 05/05/2009 12:00:20 PM PDT by listenhillary (Rahm Emmanuel slip - A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.)
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To: dan1123; All

All kinds of possibilities for resourceful hackers, and definitely an aid to sore backs. Also it is nice to curl up in bed with a book/kindle and not have to sit up all night cramming. Yesterday saw at Market Watch that they are looking at putting newspapers and magazines on a larger Kindle. Here is the link.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/amazon-expected-unveil-new-large-screen/story.aspx?guid=%7B6319BEDC%2DF0A5%2D4B2B%2DA76E%2DE781E385FC75%7D&tool=1&dist=bigcharts&;

If they can also provide additional inputs that can be added to the Kindle device(s), kind of like Netflix, then this would really be great.


14 posted on 05/05/2009 12:03:05 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: sitetest

One of the publishers last year increased their prices over 15 percent from the previous year.

They have averaged 8% yearly increases over the last 25 years.


15 posted on 05/05/2009 12:03:14 PM PDT by listenhillary (Rahm Emmanuel slip - A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.)
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To: listenhillary

I liked old textbooks. They were pre-hilighted.


16 posted on 05/05/2009 12:06:09 PM PDT by sportutegrl (If liberals could do math, they would be conservatives.)
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

The problem with digital textbooks is that instructors are sold on the obvious fact that they “should” be cheaper and save students’ money, but in reality, they always cost more.

My guess though is that the end result wont be cheaper for the students.


17 posted on 05/05/2009 12:09:59 PM PDT by naguszed
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

book shelves are so yesterday


18 posted on 05/05/2009 12:13:28 PM PDT by cowtowney
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