Here. Many students, of course, would question the “lower cost” argument–given the lack of resale opps. Rx: Slash prices sufficiently. I suspect McGraw-Hill, which already offers e-book buyers up to 50 percent discounts from the paper versions, will be increasingly sensitive to this. A move in the right direction is the company’s promise of “no expiration dates on texbooks.” OpenReader, of course, by guaranteeing continued access for real, could help. Related: MobileRead item and Ellen Hage’s first-hand experiences with the reading sytem that McGraw-Hill is using.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve tried Zinio. It was nice on a tablet PC, difficult as anything else on a desktop. If they really want to impress me they would make a version for the Cybook. Now that would make sense in portability, and ease-of-use, as well as a cost savings for students. The Cybook is considerably cheaper than a Tablet PC and who can lug a desktop around?

  2. HI, Ellen. Thanks for the great first-person feedback about Zinio! As we know, DRM and biz terms are just two of the many issues involving e-books. The basic ergonomic questions remain. Ideally McGraw-Hill can have a solution for PDA-loving students (when the nature of the book allows). OpenReader, of course, could be nicely scalable. – David

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