E-books and the Kindle

Students want more books on the Kindle. Kindle’s manufacturer knows this, as do textbook publishers. This is the start of a market expansion as big as the rise of the entire market on Kindle. Two factors slow the market for Kindle: First, textbook publishers have for years profited from selling expensive textbooks to a market that has no choice. You either buy new or used. So why mess with success? Because the marketplace is informing companies to do this. This is fading away quickly as more companies get onto the Kindle. The second element that inhibits the growth of Kindle textbooks is the current standing of Kindle tech. It’s a bit clunky for textbook use. This second factor should never again be a concern in the near future (months?). Are textbooks hard to read with Kindle? Reader reviews vary much but as of right now, about reading a textbook on Kindle. It’s a bit more awkward than using a paper book, but only a bit. From time to time you want to shift to the table of contents. If you want to check the index, it’s somewhat harder, but the search feature is available. If you want to check a footnote, you move your cursor over the citation, select, and you’re taken to the reference. If it’s an endnote, the Kindle rocks paper because you don’t have to go all the way to the back of the book and dig through until you get to what you’re looking for. Unless the student is a walking dictionary, the Kindle has a feature that blows away paper. When you look up a word you don’t know, easily move the mouse to the word itself and the definition shows up. This beats looking for the word in a book, particularly given you don’t need to lug the dictionary all over the place. Editing a paper always entails quoting from sources. When quoting from a Kindle-based text you just copy and paste the reference onto a paper you’d be writing. This is a tremendous time-saver. Don’t forget to cite the source! The pricing of textbooks on Kindle is, as of right now, isn’t as convenient as the pricing of novels. One book, for example, sells for over $200 in hardcover, but declines to a still expensive $170 on a Kindle. This should change as competitors decrease prices. Amazon claims that the Kindle 2 can save about 1500 text-only books. This is a big deal for legal and medical school attendees who have to walk bent over under the pressure of textbooks in their backpacks. That many books in a single tool is a blessing.

Thomas A. Carrell modified his school’s student management software It is one of the very best in just about all Houston, Texas.