Wednesday, August 19, 2009

E-textbooks

We all seem to have bought into the idea that textbooks will be the first overall win on the e-book front. They sound like the perfect cheap solution for the exactly right market. But maybe that win isn't as close as we assume. Mashable posts a fine, thorough article on the subject.

Josh Catone: For higher education students who spend an average of $702 per year on course materials, mostly textbooks, the prospect of going digital is an appealing one. Among the theoretical benefits of digital textbooks is the possibility of significant cost savings due to lower overhead costs — bits are cheaper than printed pages, after all. Unfortunately, students shouldn’t chuck their backpacks any time soon; there still exist some major hurdles that digital textbooks must overcome before they widely replace traditional, printed textbooks on college (and high school) campuses... More.

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