Comments on: My theories about the future of electronic books http://cogitas.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/my-theories-about-the-future-of-electronic-books/ Where I research and ruminate thereupon Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:21:23 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Aifos http://cogitas.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/my-theories-about-the-future-of-electronic-books/#comment-210 Aifos Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:56:11 +0000 http://cogitas.wordpress.com/?p=22#comment-210 I love this idea of the eletronic books :) lol I love this idea of the eletronic books :) lol

]]> By: cogitas http://cogitas.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/my-theories-about-the-future-of-electronic-books/#comment-40 cogitas Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:16:31 +0000 http://cogitas.wordpress.com/?p=22#comment-40 carpe: I've had that same wonder about the price of textbooks. I helped write a text book for the english program where I teach last year, and though it was a very short book with no permissions (we wrote everything), it still ended up costing the students around $40. But I have to wonder why the price is so much higher for in-house books. If its because a small print run is more expensive (because of setting the type, changing the binding machines, or whatever), then e-printing should still be cheaper, because it shouldn't cost any noticeable amount more to e-publish 1000 copies than 1, and so print run sizes wouldn't matter. I don't know; maybe the e-readers work with .pdf files. If that's the case, they can be 'published' with free software. If you do talk to your bookstore about this, then best of luck. There is one problem that needs figuring: how to stop students from giving each other copies of books. I think it's possible to make a file un-copyable, but I remember being in college and knowing a whole lot of people with thousands of dollars worth of 'un-copyable' software on their computers (not me, of course!). And consider the idea of the creative commons type: use it as you like, just please give me credit. carpe:

I’ve had that same wonder about the price of textbooks. I helped write a text book for the english program where I teach last year, and though it was a very short book with no permissions (we wrote everything), it still ended up costing the students around $40.

But I have to wonder why the price is so much higher for in-house books. If its because a small print run is more expensive (because of setting the type, changing the binding machines, or whatever), then e-printing should still be cheaper, because it shouldn’t cost any noticeable amount more to e-publish 1000 copies than 1, and so print run sizes wouldn’t matter.

I don’t know; maybe the e-readers work with .pdf files. If that’s the case, they can be ‘published’ with free software.

If you do talk to your bookstore about this, then best of luck. There is one problem that needs figuring: how to stop students from giving each other copies of books. I think it’s possible to make a file un-copyable, but I remember being in college and knowing a whole lot of people with thousands of dollars worth of ‘un-copyable’ software on their computers (not me, of course!).

And consider the idea of the creative commons type: use it as you like, just please give me credit.

]]> By: carpenoctemtomorrow http://cogitas.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/my-theories-about-the-future-of-electronic-books/#comment-39 carpenoctemtomorrow Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:58:56 +0000 http://cogitas.wordpress.com/?p=22#comment-39 Fantastic! I'm hitting myself in the head because I hadn't even thought of this when I heard of Electronic Book Readers. I'll shyly admit I was thinking of a way to store all my Harry Potter Books (go ahead, laugh). But I'm a biochemistry student at U of T, so I have monstrous textbooks like "Microbiology of the Cell" and "Organic Chemistry" that I don't even bother taking to school. I should because I have a lot of time between classes, and I could get alot of homework done. But if my books were electronic, I could have them with me at all times and whip them out even on the subway to read. Hmm, you're making me think about talking to my bookstore about this. However, I still don't think the price in textbooks will reduce too much, because university textbooks specific to a course usually cost a lot more money to make since there are fewer buyers than, say, textbooks in elementary and high schools, where an entire District School Board purchases them. But for convenience sake, I have to definitely agree with you. Fantastic! I’m hitting myself in the head because I hadn’t even thought of this when I heard of Electronic Book Readers. I’ll shyly admit I was thinking of a way to store all my Harry Potter Books (go ahead, laugh). But I’m a biochemistry student at U of T, so I have monstrous textbooks like “Microbiology of the Cell” and “Organic Chemistry” that I don’t even bother taking to school. I should because I have a lot of time between classes, and I could get alot of homework done. But if my books were electronic, I could have them with me at all times and whip them out even on the subway to read. Hmm, you’re making me think about talking to my bookstore about this.
However, I still don’t think the price in textbooks will reduce too much, because university textbooks specific to a course usually cost a lot more money to make since there are fewer buyers than, say, textbooks in elementary and high schools, where an entire District School Board purchases them. But for convenience sake, I have to definitely agree with you.

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