<p>I'm renting my textbooks over chegg.com and, for two of my textbooks, they have eTextbooks. They really aren't that much of a difference in cost; the comp I is $10 more for the eTextbook and my organinc chemistry textbook is $20 less for the eTexbook.</p>
<p>My college is buying us iPads for our own use. They thought it would save money on textbooks, but the whole eTextbook (over all OS) isn't really developed enough. The ones that have eTextbook copies aren't that much different in price, anyway.</p>
<p>Should I go ahead and rent the eTextbook or just rent the physical ones? I'm considering renting the comp I eTextbook just to give it a try. I don't think I'm comftorable just yet to rent the organic chemistry eTextbook.</p>
<p>^That’s what I thought! I clicked on the eTextbook and it had a return date. Most of their textbooks must be returned in late December, but eTexbooks needed to be returned in mid February.</p>
<p>I really didn’t see the logic in that either. lol</p>
<p>I like having the physical copy.
I can’t really pinpoint why. I just don’t like reading huge chunks of text off a computer screen. I also feel it would be difficult for me to disconnect. When I have a physical textbook, I can go the library and be free from technology and leave my cell phone and stuff in my dorm. If I had it on a computer or ipad, I would be too connected and distracted.</p>
<p>For the past month i’ve been experimenting e-textbooks on my computer and phone and I really don’t like them. Definitely physical books over e-books in general.</p>
Which doesn’t make sense, right? With almost 0 cost to produce compared to a physical book, the ebooks should be considerably less in cost to the consumer. I’ll point out that a few publishers are in legal hot water right now for being accused of conspiring with Apple (when Jobs was still around) to fix ebook prices to keep them high since publishers feared of losing all that profit vs a real book.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t spend $10 more on an eBook that will expire after so many days. The normal version is just fine.</p>
<p>Saying that, I have yet to use an eTextbook for class. Ive had the option or had normal versions that came with a code for the eTextbook but I found them glitchy at best and not always the most reliable. Its something that needs expanded further</p>
<p>eBooks aren’t cheap unless you pirate them, and I find that eBooks are way easier to ignore than a physical book. Also, if you actually read your textbook, there’s a sense of accomplishment when you turn that last page and have +1000 pages resting on your desk.</p>
<p>@aceshigh1, you can do that in an ebook too, except it’s even better because the ebook will compile all of your highlights and associated notes into one “notebook” to review from.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of etextbooks. Will be using them for all of my classes this semester, due to added convenience and cool features like notetaking and such</p>
<p>If you are a STEM major, you definitely want to buy your books so you can have them as a reference. Believe me. I know it seems like you wouldn’t need to, what with the internet, but BELIEVE ME if you are a math, science, or engineering major you want to keep your math and science textbooks around.</p>
<p>But for classes unimportant to your major, I say do whatever is cheapest. I’ve rented before, but I’ve only rented physical copies. Unless you have a laptop or compatible tablet, I wouldn’t rent an ebook.</p>
<p>I personally prefer physical books… I can pay attention to them better. If it’s an e-version I find myself getting distracted easier.
Plus at least with the physical books, you can sell them back or sell them to another person if they’re still in decent shape.</p>
<p>“Which doesn’t make sense, right? With almost 0 cost to produce compared to a physical book, the ebooks should be considerably less in cost to the consumer. I’ll point out that a few publishers are in legal hot water right now for being accused of conspiring with Apple (when Jobs was still around) to fix ebook prices to keep them high since publishers feared of losing all that profit vs a real book.”</p>
<p>That always worried me, too. Everyone complains about textbook prices and textbook companies exclaim that it is the cost to print them that is the major factor in the price. Well…you would think getting rid of most of the expenses would lower the retail price. Does it? It should, but NOPE!</p>
<p>Textbook companies see eTextbooks as a new frontier and they are fighting to keep their prices up. Really, if they cut their prices on eTextbooks, they would still be making the same amount in profit. Rather, they see it as a way to make more profit by cutting their expenses while keeping the same retail price as physical books.</p>
<p>That part frustrates me to no end! lol Although, their cost is only part of this thread. The other half is whether eTexbooks are more convenient. Personally, I love eBooks, but I’m not too sure about eTextbooks. </p>
<p>Chegg has a free 7 day eTextbook rental to use until I get my books, so I’m going to give that a try and see how I like the format.</p>
<p>physical copy… I prefer reading the book printed on paper to reading it online, plus I like to underline, star, and write all over my textbooks.</p>
<p>I prefer the physical feel of books. However, if the course only requires that I use the textbook less than 1/4 of the time, I’d opt for the online version. That’s what I did for my Political Science and Macroeconomics classes.</p>
<p>Physical textbooks are better because usually one doesn’t read all of the textbook, but skims thru some of it and reads in excrutiating details for other parts of the book. Ebook makes it definitely more difficult to skim, scan, and be selective.</p>
<p>Thus for sci and math, physical books are better. If u r in a humanities course where you will read every word of a novel or play, the either ebook (or textbook) will work.</p>
<p>@yohoyoho, I may have to disagree there… I don’t understand why it would be easier to skim in a physical book than an ebook, especially since you can search for specific words or topics much more easily in an ebook than using the index in a physical book.</p>
<p>Eh, I hate eBooks. It’s easier to search for information but not really in the way I’d like. For some strange reason flipping through pages physically at my own pace and looking at what seems interesting or not so relevant is easier to sift through than doing it on the computer. </p>
<p>For liberal arts classes, eBooks are a godsend for me. However, I would never in my wildest dreams use an online book for a technical course. I like to see my own notes in my own writing, drawings, and looking at paper doesn’t hurt my eyes.</p>