Comments on: Major textbook publishers ink e-textbook deals for Apple iPad, iBookstore

By: PXT

PXT — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:05:22 +0000

I hope Apple will develop a good note-taking utility that runs in parallel with the reader. When studying, you need to be able to set multiple bookmarks, highlight text and make your own notes - then view these in a single stream with links back to the original book.

Then it would be cool to be able to escalate those notes to a document ( essay or just own notes ) and even turn highlighted text into formal references.

Just a reader is a bit lame for study, but this kind of workflow optimization adds a lot of value and is, unfortunately, where Apple often fall down.

By: hagar57

hagar57 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:30:08 +0000

I can see a good market for scientific textbooks. Most books, when they come out, have chapters that have already been made obsolete by recent discoveries. With a dead tree book, you have to wait for five years for the next edition that will hopefully address the problem. With a PadBook, you just get an update whenever a revised chapter is ready. Say, sixty bucks for the book, and five bucks for the annual update.
Same for scientific journals. Online subscriptions are not very popular with many scholars, as they miss the browsing experience they have when the hold the physical issue. Also, the landscape mode of laptops does not make for a good reading. Enter the iPad. You just get your subscription as email attachment and you can once again enjoy the reading of a journal. Or many journals. At least 15 GB of them.

By: justme2

justme2 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:51:38 +0000

@lurker: Perhaps a two-tier pricing policy; lower price to “lease” book for the term (school would specify term ending date, probably a week after finals) and higher price for people who want to keep the book (especially books that might be a good reference later, like some math books or programming texts).

By: justme2

justme2 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:42:15 +0000

@Think: And textbooks run about $40 to $50 minimum; used not that much less as the bookstore and buyback services take their cuts. Even if the ebook versions cost about $25 or $30, would still be a significant savings not to mention easier transport. And if the instructor wants he can plug his own iPad in a projector and display relevant passages…or just use Keynote for his lectures.

By: ninetimesoutoften

ninetimesoutoften — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:47:39 +0000

The chiropractors are going to hate this

By: radio

radio — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:36:54 +0000

its the RIAA all over again
pirate books are free or pay 14.99
hmmm....i want 2000 books almost $30000
geez i think piracy is fairest way to buy books

By: Think

Think — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:00:17 +0000

@Billy Bob Gaits

Yea, those new hard cover books are always available for $9.99.

I don't know what planet you live on, but go to the bookstore and look at new release hard cover books. They are more like $25 to $35.

Online they are $12.23 to $28.46. Apple is looking at $15.99 doesn't seem out of line to me.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:53:16 +0000

Note taking will not become obsolete as the physical act of writing information down uses a different part of the brain for information retention & easy access – essentially a “save file and remember where it is” function.
Simply listening to a recording or a live lecture and not taking notes is far less effective and reliable at holding and then retrieving the information from memory.

By: DLMeyer

DLMeyer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:11:08 +0000

Billy Bob, yeah ... you can certainly buy all your kids' books for the price of one iPad. What was he thinking?
And ... what about all those people who will pay for it even if they don't have kids in school? Where's the savings there? And, by the way, how will the teacher know the student is reading the text, not a "graphic novel"?
I guess they'll just have to chalk some of the expense up to the convenience of it all. And having fart apps available. And Solitaire.

By: DLMeyer

DLMeyer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:05:29 +0000

Cute, Grigoryi, but ya got it wrong. Not the part about multi-tasking being important, the part about what they’ll NEED to be doing all-at-the-same-time. “Class … please open your text to ‘Page 123′ …”, and then the teacher starts to talk and the students to take notes. Except for the losers who are texting or the “rebels” who are listening to “t00nz”. How very “grown up” and “independent” they are.
You need to be able to read the text and type notes almost simultaneously. Else it doesn’t work very well.

By: Grigori

Grigori — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:32:51 +0000

I'm really looking foward to the iPad. . . but for students, it's a non-starter until multitasking comes around.

Think about it: how can a student be expected to take notes in class if they can't also be Skypeing and surfing Facebook at the same time?? It's just not reasonable.

By: lurker

lurker — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:01:36 +0000

@Predrag - I think the textbook worlds fantasy is leasing, not purchase. You would buy the rights to the book for six months or so, then it would self-destruct like a Mission Impossible mission assignment tape.

I see a different model. The book publishing threshold just got lower than even a music publishers. Textbooks are dead. The idea of textbook publishing as a separate business died with them. Think of the emergence of iTunes University.

By: Predrag

Predrag — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:40:55 +0000

..."No more used text books.

Why not? What will prevent you from giving your e-Book copy away to somebody else? The EPUB format Apple will be using for its iBook Store is open-standard and so far, we haven't heard ANYTHING that would imply DRM on these.

By: mactricity

mactricity — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:04:44 +0000

And why isn’t the MDN take the “squeakqual”? Since they’ll all be squealing in pain.

By: vanfruniken

vanfruniken — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:39:45 +0000

Imagine how much easier it will be for instructors. Just specify the eBook on the course Web Page, and the next day all the students can already have the course textbook on their iPads.

No more running around to the bookstore for the students, much easier time to hunt for proper textbooks for instructors.

By: Trvth

Trvth — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:28:02 +0000

No more used text books. They all have to be brand new — every year.

By: TheConfuzed1

TheConfuzed1 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:27:00 +0000

I think that perhaps 'blood' and 'iPad' should not be used in the same comment together.

That really is a terrible name for a product!

But what do I know, I prefered Powerbook to MacBook Pro at the time too.



By: Billy Bob Gaits

Billy Bob Gaits — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:22:21 +0000

Brilliant marketing Jobs – selling your ebooks for more than hardcopies of the same book can be bought for. Is the transplant rejection medicine rotting your brain?

By: aaplsaur

aaplsaur — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:19:13 +0000

How many trees can the iPad save?

By: Troy

Troy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:09:15 +0000

Hey MDN, can you put a countdown clock for the premier of the iPad in stores?

By: acid

acid — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:08:51 +0000

To think I went to college with a type writer, ribbons and white-outs at hand. These kids have it too good. More beer money I hope.

By: Notetaking

Notetaking — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:03:45 +0000

I agree. I would like to see the iPad (or an app on it) allow for easy note taking. Dare I say it...a stylus of some sort might be useful in that scenario. True, I can type faster than I can write, but I can't draw diagrams or graphs or circuits or equations with a keyboard (soft or hard). All of those are critical to being able to take notes.

I'd also like to see the ability to mark up textbooks (or any books) and the ability to do a split screen view in which I have one page open on one side and another on the other side (perhaps even pages from two different books) for reference or comparison.

By: aka Christian

aka Christian — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:45:24 +0000

Couple of thoughts:

First, this was the second time in two days that I've seen the term "closely held" and had no idea it was an actual type of business model. Interesting.

Second, as I've been giving lectures all day to students, and they've been taking notes, I've been wondering if devices such as iPad will make note taking easier... or obsolete. And if people stop taking notes, is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

By: auren

auren — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:31:29 +0000

B O O O O M M M M !!!!!!

By: Mac4lfe

Mac4lfe — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:13:49 +0000

Wow, and it’s not even available for purchase yet. Real Change you can actually see.

By: lee

lee — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:13:34 +0000

Rebates on iPads with back-to-school Mac edu purchases?

By: Swing Geezer

Swing Geezer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:06:04 +0000

It’s a new day!