Digital Textbooks Gaining Favor

Digital Textbooks Gaining Favor: As printed books get more expensive, electronic versions are on the rise as a popular, cost-saving alternative. Mary Hughes Stone, a psychology professor at San Francisco State, often directs her students to iChapters. Stone says it’s an “optimal system” for visual learners and she sees “definite value” in the multimedia components. Because the e-books are distributed on the Internet, they also have the advantage of being weightless and easily accessible from any computer.

November 10, 2008 by Uncategorized 3

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3 Responses

  1. Bibliofuture says:
    November 11, 2008 at 2:52 am

    Why the prices go up.
    From the article:
    But they’re not as cost-effective as they appear. At most college bookstores, often-used titles can be sold back for a percentage of the purchase price (usually about 50%). Not so with iChapters and CourseSmart: Initial prices are low, but there’s no rebate potential. Depending on the book, Stone warns, “you could lose money in the long run.” Plus, buying a used book in the first place has long been a cost-saving option

    My comment: But the fact that you can sell the paper book back is one factor behind publishers constantly uping the price.

    Reply
  2. FSC_Librarymans says:
    November 14, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    I wish I could get 50%
    During my first semester I paid $450 for books and got $75 for selling them back. Since then I have been keeping most of my books because the ridiculously low sell-back price wasn’t worth giving up the books.

    Last time I looked into getting an digital textbook it was $95 for a book that was originally $120.

    Both options are horrible, but I’ll never pay $95 for access to an ebook.

    Reply

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