College Textbooks Going Digital

Imagine being a college student, paying 300, 400, 500 or even more for textbooks, plus these things are big, bulky, heavy. Plus, half the time, these books aren’t really all that essential anyway to the class. Now, imagine just buying an ipad, and buying just what you need for a class through chapters. Wouldn’t that be much easier? Yes, and would you like to learn more about how you can just do this? Well, there is a company called inkling, which brought textbooks from the stone age to the media age.

Inkling has gotten investments from such publishing moguls as McGraw-Hill and Pearson, so even they are in the game, which is a good thing for college students, who can now just get an ipad, and essentially be set with their college work. Plus, now Inkling is coming out with more titles than the puny four it had last year. Now, college students can choose form a 100 or more titles to get on their ipad. There is also an advantage of having these e-textbooks instead of the hardbound version. These books show the graphics in 3d, so the student can really get immersed and really enjoy what they are reading.

There are other companies out there doing the same thing, like CourseSmart and Cengage, but both are only mentioned once in the article above.

This new technology is a godsend for students, who have grown weary of doling out exorbitant amounts of cash for hardbound textbooks, only to rarely use them. There is also the advantage of the weight difference. It’s a lot easier to carry a tablet, and possibly a notebook, instead of a 5 pound book, and possibly other stuff in your backpack. The only hangup with this whole idea is that only a few colleges are on board thus far, once the majority of campuses get on board, this is going to take off, especially when you can buy a chapter for only $2.99 a pop; pretty sweet deal.