I think the idea for textbooks is it'll be a good idea if the cost of the textbook can be substantially reduced for the Kindle.
Since this has not yet happened with regular books or newspapers on the regular Kindle, I'm skeptical that textbook publishers would suddenly jump on board.
what is the average difference in price between what a student pays for a used book and what a student can get for selling the book back?
If you resell it to the bookstore, you'll get practically nothing, but most colleges have student-run Craigslist type boards for reselling directly to other students.
Well, if you sell the book back to the bookstore you usually get a little less than half the new price. They charge about 2/3 of the new price for a used one. So if you buy used and sell back, you can make back a decent portion of your money.
Imagine a $100 text. You can buy it used for about $70. You can sell it back for about $45. You ended up spending $25 for the book. I doubt that book would ever sell for $25 on the Kindle, so by that measure, Kindle's a bad deal.
BUT, you have to move fast and get lucky to get all of your books used - I never managed to get used copies for more than half of mine from the store. And selling them back can be a hassle - they often won't take a book that's been used by several owners, especially if, like Steph's students, you're a big marker and highlighter. Plus, half the time a new edition has come out, and they won't take it back because next year they won't need it.
I had problems selling that way.
Using half.com, the facebook market, or another campus exchange system can work a bit better for finding books or buyers, but it's a lot of hassle. I did it some. I usually didn't bother.
If you resell it to the bookstore, you'll get practically nothing, but most colleges have student-run Craigslist type boards for reselling directly to other students.
Where were those when
I
was in college?
Oh yeah, no internets back then. I feel very old.
Oh, yes, no internets back then. When I explained to one of my students that I only got an email address my last year in college, and then it was only an intranet, you should have seen the look of horror on his face. I then further blew his mind by telling him that we had to register with
scan tron forms
He begged me to stop. Heh.
evil cackle.
It's kind of amazing. I wonder how I found stuff out before the internets? I mean, between Google and Wikipedia I look stuff up all day long every day, from just-for-the-heck-of-it interesting stuff to phone numbers, times of stores opening, maps & directions.
It's hard to remember how I got along pre-Internet, even though I can still bore my kids with "When I was a kid we didn't have..." stories.
When I was in college, there were only mainframes. The then brand new and exciting HP scientific calculators cost $300. I used a slide rule. I wrote my papers on a portable manual typewriter. I rode dinosaurs to class and it was uphill both ways.
The then brand new and exciting HP scientific calculators
Reverse polish notation! I had, still have, a HP scientific calculator though it wasn't $300. Nobody ever wanted to borrow my calculator more than once.
In college I had a programmable TI-55. Ten memories! 31 programming steps! Rechargeable battery! 11 digit LED!
Oh, and a Radio Shack PC-1 pocket computer. With about 1.4k memory, programmable in BASIC. I also had the printer/cassette interface.
I'm thinking of upgrading my cell phone (good for making phone calls, period, but works in Senegal) to a smart phone of some sort. Blackberry, iPhone, etc. I want to be able to check my email, twitter, and maybe check b.org on it. Does anyone have any recommendations/warnings? Or is this low-end enough tech that I should Natter it instead?
