iPad Textbooks

Mr Beech · January 2012

Apple announced iPad interactive textbooks and free creation/publishing software to write and design them. Looks pretty great and as a college student, I hope companies support this. I already planned on getting an iPad at some point. If this takes off, there would plenty of reason to.

http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/#textbooks

What do you guys think?

toutbrun · January 2012

I'm not sure it's such a great idea (textbooks on iPads) because

a) prices will drop at first but eventually it will be as expensive as the printed versions
b) you can't resell them, which is a very important part of it, because for most courses you don't want to keep it and it's usually expensive.
c) you can't buy used ones (which means there won't be a less expensive alternative)
d) the general experience is not for everyone

I would not buy mine online. I tried with a few novels and I didn't like it at all.

EDIT : Maybe one could say that you could get it for free on PirateBay or torrents and so in that respect it would be better.

Mr Beech · January 2012

toutbrun wrote:

I'm not sure it's such a great idea (textbooks on iPads) because

a) prices will drop at first but eventually it will be as expensive as the printed versions
b) you can't resell them, which is a very important part of it, because for most courses you don't want to keep it and it's usually expensive.
c) you can't buy used ones (which means there won't be a less expensive alternative)
d) the general experience is not for everyone

I would not buy mine online. I tried with a few novels and I didn't like it at all.

EDIT : Maybe one could say that you could get it for free on PirateBay or torrents and so in that respect it would be better.

I am not a fan of pirates, so no on that option...

As far as I hear, they are trying to keep the prices and lack of used market in consideration and thus will try lower pricing and allow upgrades to new editions at lower prices for schools who already own copies on institute iPads.

I don't like digital books as far as novels. Heck, I still don't have a single one of my magazine subscriptions moved over to digital editions. I do, however, know that I would be just fine with swapping out my one or two textbooks in my bag for an iPad with interactive versions instead. I don't have that emotional connection to textbooks that I have to my novels on my bookshelves and magazines in my mail pile. Those have physical importance to me. But like you said with textbooks, people get rid of them often. I'd be fine not having one physically because I never desire a long-term physical copy of my books anyways. I just lug it around for 4 months and move on.

minigeff · January 2012

apparently, quite some time ago, a design tool was invented that had a load of advantages over all other computers on the market.

it couldn't be hacked into
it couldn't be infected with a virus
it couldn't become corrupted
it would work in a power cut, without its own power source
it didnt crash, ever
it was compatible with any other users
you could enter your data, erase it, rewrite it pretty much as many times as you liked
it has never been upgraded as its never needed it
its available in many different sizes, from devices that'll fit in your pocket, to ones that will place an image on the wall
plus, its cheap and affordable, so when its full, you can just buy another.

yep, i sure love my portable computer

Sir Miles · January 2012

minigeff wrote:

yep, i sure love my portable computer

Now just put the 'apple' logo on the front and watch people queue around the block to pay stupid money for one

)

Mr Beech · January 2012

Sir Miles wrote:

minigeff wrote:

yep, i sure love my portable computer

Now just put the 'apple' logo on the front and watch people queue around the block to pay stupid money for one )

But it doesn't have Spotlight search, or high-res screens, or high capacity! I'd buy it with that Apple logo, though

toutbrun · January 2012

Also, on magazines, I really prefer the real one because

a) it's delivered by mail and gives job to Canada Post / US Postal, which give good jobs to people
b) it's just more fun and convenient and easier to keep if you want to

toutbrun · January 2012

Article by the Economist

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/01/apple-and-digital-publishing

TonyDP · January 2012

I remember lugging a bagful of books all thru grade school and college; by the end of the school year my left arm felt longer than my right arm. So the idea of condensing all that material down to a single tablet sized device has a lot of appeal simply from a convenience standpoint. I would only hope that the publishers (1) don't gouge their buyers with ridiculous prices and (2) open the concept up to other operating systems like Android (why should Apple get this exclusively?). But just for the sheer convenience (not to mention for those people who physically can't lug a bunch of books, I don't see how this is a bad thing.

Mr Beech · January 2012

TonyDP wrote:

I remember lugging a bagful of books all thru grade school and college; by the end of the school year my left arm felt longer than my right arm. So the idea of condensing all that material down to a single tablet sized device has a lot of appeal simply from a convenience standpoint. I would only hope that the publishers (1) don't gouge their buyers with ridiculous prices and (2) open the concept up to other operating systems like Android (why should Apple get this exclusively?). But just for the sheer convenience (not to mention for those people who physically can't lug a bunch of books, I don't see how this is a bad thing.

I am sure Android will try to compete at some point. Apple is getting the attention for this because, yet again, they are the first to strike a major deal or take a major step into something.

Predator · January 2012

Mr Beech wrote:

Sir Miles wrote:

minigeff wrote:

yep, i sure love my portable computer

Now just put the 'apple' logo on the front and watch people queue around the block to pay stupid money for one )

But it doesn't have Spotlight search, or high-res screens, or high capacity! I'd buy it with that Apple logo, though

I had one ... an official one purchased from the Apple Campus store in Cupertino. It was just a notepad ... with an Apple logo on it and didn't cost any more.

My iPad is rather better ...

I have a little to add to this thread as I am a publisher by profession and my output already is on the iPad and Kindle, Nook, and all the others ... I think this is an interesting development and I can see plenty of positives and plenty of negatives. This is just a v1 release though, so I look forward to the potential for better integration with the ePub3 format in future, export to/from Pages, better integration with existing layout tools (here's hoping), social and lending options.

But for me, there are considerable worries regarding unauthorised reuse of previously published content, lack of interoperability with other systems/devices/workflows, the file sizes could be considered unwieldy, high cost of entry to the hardware, Apple "curation" of content, a tidal wave of dross flooding the iBookStore (fartbook anyone?), reduction in visibility for content and reduction in findability, only the cream with banner ad placement will benefit from generous impact and sales. I could go on.

But here's a little something to remember when you think about book prices ... really think about how big the potential market is for a book. Of the thousands/tens/hundreds of thousands of likely customers, only ever a tiny proportion will buy a book new. Why? Because, they'll get is second hand, or use their library, or photocopy a friend's copy, or buy the competitor. Only a small proportion of the many extremely good textbooks are actually destined to become recommended course texts.

My areas of coverage have a worldwide postgrad market of around 100,000. The best I can hope for is a 5% take up, but sometimes it is fractions of a per cent. If I am selling a print book for (say) $50, $20 of that immediately goes to the bookseller. A smaller proportion will go to distribution leaving half of the retail price coming to the publisher. The author gets his/her cut of the money next via royalties. There are the production costs (editorial, marketing, distribution, warehousing and paper, print and bind, all of which proportionately high for a niche product). It is not an easy business let me tell you.

If you go ebook, there are still buyers that demand print because they can't afford or don't want an iPad, Kindle etc so the publishers are currently in the middle ground.

(ps I'm sure some enterprising person will develop a similar system for Android, but Android tablets are nowhere near as ubiquitous as iPads - there just isn't the ROI for publishers on the Android platform currently)

toutbrun · January 2012

To me, as long as they will not allow a second-hand market, I'm not interested and they are clearly doing it to make more money. As for magazines, I think it's important to encourage the postal industry as it creates a lot of good or OK jobs.

EDIT: But I have to admit that it can be good to find old books for free instead of still paying for them on paper. Except that it's unreliable editions without footnotes (say for Shakespeare, where you'd be better off buying the Oxford edition).

iPad Textbooks

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