<p>Apple shouldn’t be able to get any monopoly on textbooks, therefore there would have to be real competition for etextbooks to be a viable replacement. There are anti-Apple students out there.</p>
<p>It’s not a question of Apple getting a monopoly on e-textbooks. The publishers already have a shared monopoly on textbooks (or each has a monopoly on its own texts, i.e., copyright). They compete with each other, but not on price, because the price-sensitive consumers don’t make the purchasing decisions. The publishers have an interest in more efficient distribution, but they aren’t about to give up any of their profit to get it, unless they think it will expand market share.</p>
<p>Publishers put out new editions every few years (often every 3-4 years). They make more money this way by removing the market for used books. The difference between different editions are often very minor. </p>
<p>Professors usually don’t have a choice in this matter. They have to order the textbooks from publishers for the school bookstore. And they can’t really say go buy the older editions on the syllabus, because they are not always available in stores. </p>
<p>If your student already have the older edition, s/he should ask the professor (unless s/he is the author and would financially benefit from the new books) if it is ok to use the older edition. Many faculty members I know are very conscious of the high cost of textbooks to students and often assign cheaper alternatives if available and put a few copies in the library for only hourly and overnight checkout.</p>
<p>My son has a grad class with 7 textbooks listed. 1 is required ($52 online, $100 in bookstore), two recommended texts and the rest optional. Total is something like $500 at the bookstore. I only bought the first three as I thought that they would be useful.</p>
<p>Any other engineering majors out there? DD’s books this term…almost $800 and she got some of them used.</p>
<p>Physics textbook for a 1 quarter cc class cost over $300 – could not be found used or at chegg :(</p>
<p>All of my dd’s profs this semester told the kids not to buy the textbooks as all the material would be available online for free. First time that has ever happened to us and I have no doubt this will be the last time.</p>
<p>I’ve never seen a physics textbook for $300. I have seen a med school textbook for $500 at the BU bookstore. It might make it worthwhile to go to the bookstore to use the text instead of buying it.</p>
<p>That’s one obnoxious professor, not professors plural. Most of us are very aware of the cost of textbooks and make it a point to try to order the best book possible for the best price…especially those of us with our own kids in college! This term, I’ve got copies of the most expensive texts on reserve at the library and have told more than one student to buy a previous edition online when they’ve found a deal too good to pass up. Our department textbook committee has been leaning on the bookstore because it used to override prof’s requests to use an earlier edition and would insist on only making the newest, priciest one available. So please don’t paint everyone with the same brush because you had one bad experience.</p>
<p>I ran this past my H, who is a math professor. He said the student should politely inquire of the professor and then take it up the chain of command as necessary. He said he’d never do such a thing and, at least in his field, he can confirm there are very few meaningful alterations from one edition to the next.</p>
<p>I always loved it when a professor would require a book he had written and then use it once during the semester. </p>
<p>Regarding the iPad: the biggest problem I see to the iPad replacing paper books is that the iPad’s screen is backlit. The Kindle or B&N Nook use e-ink and from talking with users, is really easier on the eyes than a typical monitor. I am hoping that future textbooks would be available as both paper and electronically for different tastes, with the e-version being cheaper as it is cheaper to distribute. Also the rental system is a good idea. </p>
<p>My understanding is that Appalachian State in NC has a rental program for textbooks that keeps student’s semester book costs to around $300. I wish other schools would adopt that program and that professors had to justify book changes and not be allowed at all to pull mid-term changes. I think the universities have a responsibility to implement policies that will make this part of a higher education more reasonable.</p>
<p>When a “professor” is tenured at any college he/she is almost automatically approached by textbook publishers to “consult”. Free trips and small money is all it takes. </p>
<p>Why the federal RICO Statutes hasn’t been enforced is mighty testimony to the fact of “paid for” influence (read: bribes) of the textbook industry to both our in state and congressional reps. </p>
<p>Ques: And why is that college profs go along with such a system? </p>
<p>Ans: They are also monetarily compensated for their cooperation.</p>
<p>What this professor did is, IMO, completely unacceptable. The student should speak to the prof. If the prof will not allow the student to use the 7th ed., then go up the chain of command, as someone else said.</p>
<p>I can’t even imagine telling my students part way into the semester that we are changing books! But sometimes people just aren’t thinking, or are being absent minded. I doubt there is a monetary reason. If the prof wrote the book, then I would question the motives.</p>
<p>As far as new editions are concerned, in many disciplines new editions are needed every few years. The obvious are science, both physical and social, history and business. But even the arts and literature. New editions are not just “new and improved” versions of the old.</p>
<p>But sometimes publishers come out with new editions to be able to sell books. What is wrong with that? With a new book, the publisher has all the costs. This includes payment to the author, payment to reviewers, printing, marketing and shipping costs. When the book is sold in the used book market, the publisher and author receive NOTHING. Only the used book dealer, who paid nothing to bring the book to market and assumed no risk, is making money. You guys should be complaining about the used book marketers and not the publishers. </p>
<p>And if publishers stop making a profit, they will stop publishing books. My H is a text book author. He has several books and several editions of each book. He puts in many, many, many hours of time over weeks, months and even years writing these books. He does enjoy it, but also does it because he is paid. He should do it for free?</p>
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<p>If students weren’t paying $100-200 for a book that doesn’t get used, there would be no need for the used book market in the first place.</p>
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<p>they are not needed.</p>
<p>Only advanced science texts need new versions. An intro chemistry or bio or physics book does not need to updated every couple years. Neither do history books on anything more than 20 years old (aka, almost anything you will study in a history class). Classic literature does not need to be updated, and neither do texts about the literature. You could use the same text for an art history class in 2010 that was used in 1960, unless you desperately need the last 50 years. But even if the professor wanted to teach that, s/he could get supplemental material.</p>
<p>The only books I had to buy last semester were a lab book and a course-pack (for Orgo, it was a bunch of old exams). Together they costed about $50. This semester I’ve bought no books. I’ll say infact, that the course-pack wasn’t REALLY necessary, but it would have been bad for me not to get it.</p>
<p>My secret? Download them. Read them at the library. Use a friend’s book. Just manage somehow without using it, or using a different book. Unless homework is going to be assigned from the book, any equivalent level French book should do. It’s not like the rules of the French language are subjective, and vary from textbook to textbook. All the textbooks are going to say the same thing, and one might explain things better than the one assigned as well.</p>
<p>Infact, I find it sort of like an interesting test in resourcefulness, but in intro level classes it’s not too hard to find books.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>soccerguy, I think you would be amazed if you actually compared an art history or ancient history text from 1960 with the equivalent today. The past changes more than you think! As for literature, there have been three or four near-total revolutions in critical approach since 1960. The text of Paradise Lost hasn’t changed much in the past 50 years, but how people read it sure has. And what people consider classic – the “canon” – has changed quite a bit, too. Did you read a lot of Theodore Dreiser and John Dos Passos in college?</p></li>
<li><p>As any economist will tell you, the existence of a used book market lowers the real cost of books. An $80 nontransferable e-book may well be much more expensive than a $100 physical text. The publishers certainly think so!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Maybe the thinking goes like this: hey these parents are willing to spend $50k a year on their kids’ school (which as most professors think, its outright insane that they do!)…so, they figure, what difference does a $200 book make?</p>
<p>RE Kindle et al – Am I the only one who enjoys looking at a collection of physical books on a bookshelf? My books are among my most cherished possessions (yes, even my college textbooks – I still have most of them). I love the way they look, all lined up on their shelves, the variety of colors, sizes, titles, styles. I’ll occasionally pull one out, open it randomly, and read a paragraph or two. Every time my SIL visits, she communes with the bookshelf for a bit and then grabs one to read while she’s staying. I sometimes make notes in them, even novels, and running across an old note takes me back to the whole experience of reading the book. All of these things are possible with Kindle, I suppose, but would it be the same? Probably in 100 years, physical books will be collector’s items, and virtually all real reading will be done on electronic devices. Makes me sad for future generations.</p>
<p>Sorry, Lasma, I think books will be a collectors item a lot sooner than in a 100 years. I know a lot of people who were mourning the the loss of cursive and letter writing a few years ago, but most of those same people eventually embraced the convenience and advantages of email, etc.</p>
<p>I actually think the concept of a “text book” will disappear altogether. The biggest changes brought about with the internet is how information is shared and updated. Unfortunately for those that make money from writing text books, there will eventually be enough experts in most fields who are willing to share their knowledge at no cost, even with the work involved. Obviously, they will be motivated by something other than money. Already many supplementary readings can be found for free on the internet, and look at the growing number of open online courses. In reality this would just be a return to the times when there were no copyright laws and all that went out into the public domain was forever there for the taking. Already, much of the information we once had to pay for is now available for free–encyclopedias, maps, news.</p>