Textbooks on the Kindle?

[wade moore]

Looking for some opinions from those who have tried it.

How do you feel about textbooks on the Kindle? I am starting up an MBA program here in January and I'm trying to decide whether I go the Kindle route for my books or not. I have some... hesitation... about using the Kindle, but it's all conjecture.


Thoughts?

[darkenigma510]

I prefer casual reading on a kindle but would prefer hardcopy books for reference materials. Also, I know PDFs come out okay on the Kindle DX...do the smaller Kindles handle them ok?

[JonInMiddleGA]

No experience with it, but I anticipate it being what my son will be using a couple of years from now (based on conversations with key members of the faculty on their textbook advisory board). Apparently the cost savings are ridiculous & every book they're currently using (or planning to soon use) are available already.

[darkenigma510]

Funny enough, iPad might be better for textbooks. You can see the pictures/graphs better and hyperlinks work well. I can see lots of e-textbooks being more geared towards iPad applications than the kindle.

[stevew]

Undergrad admittedly...

The books I looked at were not cheap enough to justify springing for the e copy. You can't sell it back, either, which makes it even less worthwhile. My wife did buy a few ebooks from cengage brain, and I thought those did seem to be worthwhile in the cost basis. These were masters of education type books.

It probably comes down to your personal preference. I think it is way easier to flip through a large text cause you can look at multiple pages at the same time. I Don't know whether you'd be looking at a bunch of charts doing an MBA.

[Rizon]

Yeah, I only use the Kindle for free games. As for my school books, I can get them cheaper elsewhere.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by stevew

Undergrad admittedly...

The books I looked at were not cheap enough to justify springing for the e copy. You can't sell it back, either, which makes it even less worthwhile. My wife did buy a few ebooks from cengage brain, and I thought those did seem to be worthwhile in the cost basis. These were masters of education type books.

It probably comes down to your personal preference. I think it is way easier to flip through a large text cause you can look at multiple pages at the same time. I Don't know whether you'd be looking at a bunch of charts doing an MBA.

I'm just starting out, and haven't actually tried using a textbook in iPad only format. But this has been my thought, that being able to flip back and forth easily between a few sections, look at a table in the back at the same time as something in the front, I think the physical format is still worth it. I love using the iPad for things like PDFs and documents, and I can bookmark and highlight and do all kinds of cool things. But so far I haven't felt like it worked to switch over with textbooks. I'm interested to hear if there's anyone who has and how they felt about it. (Seconded on the price as well, I can almost always find the book for about the same as the rental fee. It would be nice to not have to carry the books around though).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

This thread is making me feel old. Haven't touched a textbook in 15 years.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by darkenigma510

Funny enough, iPad might be better for textbooks. You can see the pictures/graphs better and hyperlinks work well. I can see lots of e-textbooks being more geared towards iPad applications than the kindle.

Your post made me realize that I was lumping all the various e-readers into a single group, basically letting the Kindle brand name represent them all. In the case I mentioned, Kindle's and iPad's were both being considered as options for the high school & middle school students that would be affected. The big discussion (locally) at this point seems to be about what & when to make the switch, rather than whether to make the switch.

It's a different environment than what the original post was about, I answered just to indicate that if it's something being looked at closely for even some middle schools then it's probably a very reasonable idea for students seeking an MBA.

[Subby]

Get an iPad.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Your post made me realize that I was lumping all the various e-readers into a single group, basically letting the Kindle brand name represent them all. In the case I mentioned, Kindle's and iPad's were both being considered as options for the high school & middle school students that would be affected. The big discussion (locally) at this point seems to be about what & when to make the switch, rather than whether to make the switch.

It's a different environment than what the original post was about, I answered just to indicate that if it's something being looked at closely for even some middle schools then it's probably a very reasonable idea for students seeking an MBA.

Originally Posted by Subby

Get an iPad.

iPad certainly seems better suited here. However, the cost of an iPad is a bit prohibitive for me right now. And you're not really saving all that much on the ebooks to make up for that cost either.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by wade moore

iPad certainly seems better suited here. However, the cost of an iPad is a bit prohibitive for me right now. And you're not really saving all that much on the ebooks to make up for that cost either.

FWIW -- and I suspect that might be fairly little since the situations are quite different -- the quotes & estimates our school got had the break even coming at about two years. Literally getting all e-textbooks for about $60-$80/yr per student, versus around $300/yr per student for the hard copies.

I imagine the key here might be quantity purchasing and/or institutional purchasing versus what individual students would face in a college environment.

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, the cost of an iPad wouldn't make it up. $79 or $99 could be, but not $500. Even the $300 I paid on a refurb Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 wouldn't really make it so that you were paying less in the long run, I'd imagine.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

FWIW -- and I suspect that might be fairly little since the situations are quite different -- the quotes & estimates our school got had the break even coming at about two years. Literally getting all e-textbooks for about $60-$80/yr per student, versus around $300/yr per student for the hard copies.

I imagine the key here might be quantity purchasing and/or institutional purchasing versus what individual students would face in a college environment.

Yeah.. because just looking at one book... it's $100 new on amazon or $63 for the kindle version. And that's not counting whatever I could get for selling it back.