Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyTheA
Here is the textbook that I adopted for my night programming class I teach:
http://www.amazon.com/Java-Introduct...5891724&sr=8-2
List Price: $115 (a lot!)
Amazon Price: $89.83 (with free shipping)
Amazon used Price: $79.94
Amazon sell-back price: $64.49 (in amazon credit towards another purchase).......
What do you guys think? Is this form of eTextbook a good deal.
The prices of textbooks are always higher (like double) than books you find at Barnes and Noble because there are only a couple publishers and you HAVE to buy textbooks where Barnes and Noble books are almost always elective purchases with LOTS of different publishers. They will say that textbooks have low volume and printing cost are high..... Well that is the same for a wood carving book you could find at B&N with the same number of pages for less than half the cost of the book I adopted. A LOT more people are going to buy the average college textbook than a wood carving book.
JTA |
To end up basically renting the eTextbook for $15-25 doesn't sound terrible at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by screensaver400
I hope Apple does something great, but I fear it will end up like the iTunes tv show and movie store. Sales are decent, but its not the game changer that the iTunes Music Store was. The prices for TV shows and movies are almost always full retail, when you can buy a physical copy for far less.
As for that Java programming book... The net price for students when buying and selling from Amazon can be as low as $10, but there's some risk involved. Amazon's buyback offer could change.
If you could "buy" (that is, you keep it forever, but it will really only be used for a semester, so for the publishers it's more like renting it since it can't be resold) for $19.99 or $29.99 from iBooks, it would probably be better for both students and publishers. A bit more expensive for students, but lower risk, and the get to keep the content forever for infrequent reference. Plus you get all the advantages of eBooks--less weight and volume for students, lower production, shipping and warehousing costs for publishers.
Again, Amazon (at least the physical book division) and college bookstores won't be happy, but neither was Virgin Megastore.
|
The thing I really fear is it just doesn't seem like Apple seems to get the cloud well. When they were the clear underdog with the iPod and iPhone they made some "play nice" concessions that they have since given up on. It is really stagnating their progress and mindshare in my opinion.
Three people out there really have my credit card info for their various "eco-systems", Apple, Google and Amazon. I'd love to be given Apple my money for iBooks but they just haven't done what they ought to with it. Why can't I read the books on my Mac laptop as well? Apple's solution used to be comprehensive and now it is becoming piecemeal. Pages exists on iPad/iPhone and the desktop. iBooks does not. Meanwhile I can read my Kindle purchases on a stand alone Kindle device, my iPhone, my Mac, in any web browser, etc.
I can see both the Google and Amazon eco-systems working better and harder over the long run. Apple still has better solutions but we've seen the iPhone 4s, and other than that iPods are stagnant, Macs are incremental improvements and the software everywhere seems to be getting worse. What was the last real software hit that Apple had? FCP was hated as an example.