3 ms·

I really don't understand why they aren't targeting students that have to carry a ton of heavy textbooks. Why not target medical students with a product? Why ju

by therein 11y ago

I really don't understand why they aren't targeting students that have to carry a ton of heavy textbooks. Why not target medical students with a product? Why just make a device with a screen that can only accommodate a novel?

readams 11y ago
Because e-readers are just really bad for textbooks. They work really only for things you want to read from start to finish (they work great for that though!). Paper textbooks are a lot better if you're flipping back and forth or trying to use it for reference.
- ghaff 11y ago
  Even tablets. I bought a couple of cookbooks/cocktail books on Kindle at one point because they were significantly cheaper. A mistake. I like to put post-its and leave pages open on the table etc. I do have a few technical books I got digitally--usually because I had some free or significantly discounted eBook offer. But it's really not my preferred format.
- neves 11y ago
  I agree. The best use case is novels. Even non-fiction books that you want to go forward and backward are weaker in the kindle. I love my paperwhite, but I must confess that physical books beats them for non-fiction. There's a caveat: if your are not in USA, you don't have to pay shipping for american books.
- RealityVoid 11y ago
  If they outfit one with a bigger screen and greater processing power so switching pages is fast and it's easier to flip (unless I'm under the wrong impression and the page-lag for the paperwhite is because of the screen not the CPU) then you could have a superior referece platform. Multiple bookmarks, search functionality, cross-referece. For my job I have to read a lot of datasheets. Ctrl-F works wonders and I have no ideea how I'd manage without it.
- stillworks 11y ago
  I hear you. Trying to read text books or books with diagrams does not work on Kindle or even tablets. Several books have text which refer to diagrams on pages other then current page. I would think it's possible to "inline" or provide a "long-press-to-pop-up" type solution. Same goes with notes and other such internally referenced material. OTOH, if you do read from an actual book... the books are damn heavy on their own ! I found peace in actually buying a Macbook Air, with that I have gotten rid of iPad and Kindle both. The screen is not the best available but it's the right "gadget" at so many other levels.
whorleater 11y ago
E-readers have a very noticeable delay when flipping through pages, especially quickly. If I'm trying to construct a scheme for preimage collision resistance in my textbook on cryptography (which is a humble 400 page textbook), I'll go to the index first (last couple pages), then flip to the page on preimage resistance, then flip forward 20 pages to collisions in hashes, and then maybe flip back a couple chapters to hash function constructions. That's about 5-10 different pages referenced in quick succession, and an e-reader gives a very significant barrier. Add onto that typing on a e-reader is a pretty awful experience as opposed to scribbling notes in the margins of the textbook and you have a product that doesn't provide any real incentive. One could make the argument that textbooks should be written in a way that accommodates the web and e-readers better, but that's a whole other hill you'll need to climb.
giaour 11y ago
Textbooks are usually printed in color and are "sold" as eBooks through vendors that sell 6 months of access. This market is fairly small and already served well by tablets.
L_Rahman 11y ago
They tried this and even piloted a program at Princeton. It failed. There a lot of non obvious tactile ways that student use textbooks that the Kindle can't accommodate.

by therein 11y ago

readams 11y ago

Because e-readers are just really bad for textbooks. They work really only for things you want to read from start to finish (they work great for that though!). Paper textbooks are a lot better if you're flipping back and forth or trying to use it for reference.

ghaff 11y ago
Even tablets. I bought a couple of cookbooks/cocktail books on Kindle at one point because they were significantly cheaper. A mistake. I like to put post-its and leave pages open on the table etc. I do have a few technical books I got digitally--usually because I had some free or significantly discounted eBook offer. But it's really not my preferred format.
neves 11y ago
I agree. The best use case is novels. Even non-fiction books that you want to go forward and backward are weaker in the kindle. I love my paperwhite, but I must confess that physical books beats them for non-fiction. There's a caveat: if your are not in USA, you don't have to pay shipping for american books.
RealityVoid 11y ago
If they outfit one with a bigger screen and greater processing power so switching pages is fast and it's easier to flip (unless I'm under the wrong impression and the page-lag for the paperwhite is because of the screen not the CPU) then you could have a superior referece platform. Multiple bookmarks, search functionality, cross-referece. For my job I have to read a lot of datasheets. Ctrl-F works wonders and I have no ideea how I'd manage without it.
stillworks 11y ago
I hear you. Trying to read text books or books with diagrams does not work on Kindle or even tablets. Several books have text which refer to diagrams on pages other then current page. I would think it's possible to "inline" or provide a "long-press-to-pop-up" type solution. Same goes with notes and other such internally referenced material. OTOH, if you do read from an actual book... the books are damn heavy on their own ! I found peace in actually buying a Macbook Air, with that I have gotten rid of iPad and Kindle both. The screen is not the best available but it's the right "gadget" at so many other levels.

whorleater 11y ago

E-readers have a very noticeable delay when flipping through pages, especially quickly. If I'm trying to construct a scheme for preimage collision resistance in my textbook on cryptography (which is a humble 400 page textbook), I'll go to the index first (last couple pages), then flip to the page on preimage resistance, then flip forward 20 pages to collisions in hashes, and then maybe flip back a couple chapters to hash function constructions. That's about 5-10 different pages referenced in quick succession, and an e-reader gives a very significant barrier. Add onto that typing on a e-reader is a pretty awful experience as opposed to scribbling notes in the margins of the textbook and you have a product that doesn't provide any real incentive. One could make the argument that textbooks should be written in a way that accommodates the web and e-readers better, but that's a whole other hill you'll need to climb.

giaour 11y ago

Textbooks are usually printed in color and are "sold" as eBooks through vendors that sell 6 months of access. This market is fairly small and already served well by tablets.

L_Rahman 11y ago

They tried this and even piloted a program at Princeton. It failed. There a lot of non obvious tactile ways that student use textbooks that the Kindle can't accommodate.