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August 12, 2009 5:00 AM PDT

CourseSmart brings college textbooks to iPhones

by Rick Broida
  • 10 comments

College textbooks are way too expensive, way too heavy, and way too tree-consuming. Electronic textbooks, on the other hand, cost less, weigh nothing, and leave forests alone.

You'd think Amazon's Kindle would be the logical place for e-textbooks to make their mobile-device debut, but CourseSmart's new eTextbooks app brings them to the iPhone and iPod Touch instead.

Specifically, eTextbooks is a companion tool for CourseSmart's textbook subscription service, which makes over 7,000 titles available for download or online viewing.

The app itself is free, but it displays only those books you've "subscribed to" (i.e., rented), and only when you have an active Internet connection. What's more, this version doesn't let you add or edit notes, but that's on the coming-soon list.

You can, however, view notes you've added via your PC. The app also supports keyword searches and lets you skim books by finger-flipping through thumbnails of each page.

Long bouts of reading might prove cumbersome, as the app doesn't reflow text to fit the screen the way, say, the Kindle app does. Each page is more or less a static image, much like a PDF. You can zoom in, scroll around, rotate into landscape mode, and so on. If only Apple offered a tablet-sized iPod Touch!

OK, college students, what do you think? Is this the best thing since bar night, or is the iPhone/Touch screen too small to make e-textbooks practical? Speak your mind in the comments!

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog.
May 8, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

E-textbooks vs. Kindle DX: What will college kids pick?

by Sharon Vaknin
  • 43 comments

The Kindle DX is geared, among other things, toward textbooks, a potentially huge target market.

(Credit: Amazon )

Amazon announced its most recent Kindle device this week: the Kindle DX. Though it's almost identical to the original Kindle, this newer model is marketed for use with textbooks and for reading periodicals. While this seems to give the impression that Amazon has presented a more practical solution for college students, it's likely that the everyday pupil will reject this new device.

Currently, most students purchase their books on campus, where new and used copies are available, while the more frugal of us order online from Web sites like Amazon.com or eBay's Half.com. At the end of the semester, students can sell their books back to the school or to online buyback services where they receive a check for about 15 percent of the original price. For decades, this has been the routine.

More recently, however, the words "e-textbook" and "Netbook" have created a buzz around campus.

E-textbooks have been available for some time now, and are currently purchased for use on a laptop or desktop for about half the price of the print book version. Electronic textbooks are an excellent alternative to print books since with them, a student can search for a specific word or topic, copy/paste text into their coursework, comment within the textbook, and enjoy a lighter backpack.

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