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Chris Jacob
This still fails to hold any interest to me whatsoever. I might see the value of an e-reader if it were around 150 bucks...but almost 500? I can think of an AWFUL lot of things I'd rather drop that kind of cash on...a PC, a laptop, really decent digicam or blu-ray player....root canal, liposuction etc.
I can honestly say I've seen 1 kindle out and about in the real world. I just don't see it catching on as 'big time' as Amazon might like to think, even among geeks like myself. I'm always up for a new toy, but meh...create a kindle app for i-phone and I'd be all over it, but another piece of hardware?
@Mitch: "...create a kindle app for i-phone and I'd be all over it..."
Er...um...just in case you weren't being inordinately sublime with sarcasm, there IS a Kindle app for iPhone. (And if that was meant to be humorous, sorry, you may now take me out back and shoot me.)
i'm really excited about this since i'm starting college in the fall. i'll just buy this bugger and pirate (and subsequently seed) all of my text books and i'll be saving a boat load of money.
@Marty: I thought the Kindle was a closed format system. The only books you can read on it were books bought from the Kindle service. Was I mistaken? If so this just launched itself up to my intrigued list.
@Lukasz Fabis: but you're not actually paying for the "content" with textbooks as much as you'd think. Textbooks are a very strange economy in their own right. Textbooks are expensive for two reasons; one, there are high costs associated with printing large books in limited quantities and two, publishers establish virtual monopolies on textbooks by paying academics. Further, publishing companies maintain the monopoly and drive down the used-book competition by releasing unnecessary "updated" editions. That's where the cost of textbooks comes, not the content.
In the short term there will only be mild savings with ebook textbooks. The publishing companies will maintain their system as long as they can. But ultimately the system breaks down when there is zero (or negligible) cost of production. Just like MP3s undermined the record label business. It's not (just) because of piracy, but because free access to distribution means that many more people can enter the market without middle-men who drive up the cost and limit access to certain content.
10 years from now, when professors can self-publish their textbooks and distribute them directly to the students at minimal cost, and are no longer controlled by the publishers, that's when we'll start seeing real change, both in terms of savings for college students, and maybe even in terms of academic freedom.
06/12/09
06/12/09
06/12/09
06/01/09
06/01/09
06/01/09
This still fails to hold any interest to me whatsoever. I might see the value of an e-reader if it were around 150 bucks...but almost 500? I can think of an AWFUL lot of things I'd rather drop that kind of cash on...a PC, a laptop, really decent digicam or blu-ray player....root canal, liposuction etc.
I can honestly say I've seen 1 kindle out and about in the real world. I just don't see it catching on as 'big time' as Amazon might like to think, even among geeks like myself. I'm always up for a new toy, but meh...create a kindle app for i-phone and I'd be all over it, but another piece of hardware?
I'll pass. Next article please.
06/01/09
Er...um...just in case you weren't being inordinately sublime with sarcasm, there IS a Kindle app for iPhone. (And if that was meant to be humorous, sorry, you may now take me out back and shoot me.)
Anyway, I do agree with your comment overall.
05/04/09
05/04/09
05/05/09
In the short term there will only be mild savings with ebook textbooks. The publishing companies will maintain their system as long as they can. But ultimately the system breaks down when there is zero (or negligible) cost of production. Just like MP3s undermined the record label business. It's not (just) because of piracy, but because free access to distribution means that many more people can enter the market without middle-men who drive up the cost and limit access to certain content.
10 years from now, when professors can self-publish their textbooks and distribute them directly to the students at minimal cost, and are no longer controlled by the publishers, that's when we'll start seeing real change, both in terms of savings for college students, and maybe even in terms of academic freedom.
05/05/09
05/04/09
05/05/09
05/04/09