Apple's e-textbooks cost $14.99 or less, major publishers already on board

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  • Reply 21 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by H2P View Post


    Don't take notes much, eh?



    I was told in college that printing was faster than cursive for taking notes. It seems to me that at full speed, sloppy printing is more readable than sloppy cursive. If we are going for all out speed we probably should be teaching shorthand instead of cursive. While I lament the passing of teaching cursive writing, it is probably a dead art. Perhaps thats the, solution teach cursive handwriting in art class.
  • Reply 22 of 41
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jameskatt2 View Post


    Currently, education is going downhill in the U.S.



    California Schools, for example, no longer teach handwriting! They only teach students to write their signature.



    How stupid. How shocking.



    It is through the lost of traditional teaching methods - which are still taught in other higher achieving countries which means every other country except the U.S.A. - that our students fail.



    i use a pen like once a month these days
  • Reply 23 of 41
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    Solution: Multiple iPads for each person, like on Star Trek: The Next Generation.



    Running the numbers with an average of 500MB per chapter with a low 10 chapters per book and excluding any appendices for a load of an estimated 4 subjects per semester that would use comprehensive textbooks I get: 4 x 10 x 0.5GB = 20GB. I think that could easily be double that, especially when digital distribution allows for the pushed of more data, not less, to the reader. Maybe 32GB might not be enough.



    I agree with the poster that suggested a camera-free ipad for education.
  • Reply 24 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gustav View Post


    No, NAND is a type of logic gate. NAND flash is a type of flash storage, but there are plenty of others. I've never heard anyone refer to flash storage as simply "NAND". That'd be even more stupid than people who call bluetooth headsets "bluetooths."



    Yes, yes. Pseudosemantics.



    I use "NAND" or "NAND chips" to set chip-only storage apart from HDD or SSD methods. Actually, that's the first time I've used just NAND, so if it's not supposed to be used like that, I'll certainly append 'chips' in the future.
  • Reply 25 of 41
    State Boards are now super tempted now to buy iPads versus text books - long run cost savings, less distribution issues, less paper, etc. Now think of your local school on the TV and radio announcing how the class of XX will ALL have iPads versus textbooks. Yippee right?





    Problem - bullies don't steal textbooks. But bullies, thieves, meth-heads, thugs, etc WILL steal iPads. Now picture your kids walking home from school with a $500 iPad on their backs. Maybe NOT in your neighborhood... but think of the poor kid who has to walk through the ghetto to get home.



    Hey, not downing Apple but... this education push should be at college level. Not Elementary to High School.



    Not everyone lives in Atherton, California!
  • Reply 26 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    What are you talking about?



    The three biggest publishers, responsible for 90% of all sales have already partnered with Apple.



    Could you please read the thread before posting? Thanks!
  • Reply 27 of 41
    dave k.dave k. Posts: 1,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LuxoM3 View Post


    State Boards are now super tempted now to buy iPads versus text books - long run cost savings, less distribution issues, less paper, etc. Now think of your local school on the TV and radio announcing how the class of XX will ALL have iPads versus textbooks. Yippee right?





    Problem - bullies don't steal textbooks. But bullies, thieves, meth-heads, thugs, etc WILL steal iPads. Now picture your kids walking home from school with a $500 iPad on their backs. Maybe NOT in your neighborhood... but think of the poor kid who has to walk through the ghetto to get home.



    Hey, not downing Apple but... this education push should be at college level. Not Elementary to High School.



    Not everyone lives in Atherton, California!



    I can't imagine too many districts letting school owned iPads leaving school grounds anyways...
  • Reply 28 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gustav View Post


    That'd be even more stupid than people who call bluetooth headsets "bluetooths."



    Or the interwebs¡
  • Reply 29 of 41
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    say a chemistry teacher has 100 students per year at $100 per book. That's $10,000 but the book is used for years.



    100 students per year at $15 per student is $1500 per year.



    but that $10,000 is only revenue. you still have to pay 30% or so to your sales team for closing the deal, adobe licenses and support and other costs.



    for apple you need a Mac and free software they provide
  • Reply 30 of 41
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gustav View Post


    No, NAND is a type of logic gate. NAND flash is a type of flash storage, but there are plenty of others. I've never heard anyone refer to flash storage as simply "NAND". That'd be even more stupid than people who call bluetooth headsets "bluetooths."



    It's descriptive without obfuscating to what is being referred.



    Also, calling NAND flash memory RAM is axiomatically wrong. That said, it's only a problem if it makes the meaning ambiguous or we getting pedantically technical for acedemic reasons. There are many types of RAM we categorize as ROM and vice versa. It's a hold over from how we associate their utility within a computer... and that's okay.
  • Reply 31 of 41
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LuxoM3 View Post


    State Boards are now super tempted now to buy iPads versus text books - long run cost savings, less distribution issues, less paper, etc. Now think of your local school on the TV and radio announcing how the class of XX will ALL have iPads versus textbooks. Yippee right?





    Problem - bullies don't steal textbooks. But bullies, thieves, meth-heads, thugs, etc WILL steal iPads. Now picture your kids walking home from school with a $500 iPad on their backs. Maybe NOT in your neighborhood... but think of the poor kid who has to walk through the ghetto to get home.



    Hey, not downing Apple but... this education push should be at college level. Not Elementary to High School.



    Not everyone lives in Atherton, California!



    by the time this gets to the poor schools ipads will be so cheap that everyone will have one. i see all kinds of poor looking people in NYC with iphones. even my 4S was essentially free
  • Reply 32 of 41
    most schools have computer, either PC or MAC. ipad can replace them completely. so having ipads or tablet is not an issue of economics, nor is it an issue of poor or rich.



    if a given ipad/tablet is stolen, apple/tablet vendors can remotely lock it up, so thieves would not able to use it.



    for my 8th grader, i spent $400 for books and relevant materials for one year. i can bite the bill, but the problem is that there is no way for a 13 yo to carry all of those books with him. even 2 subjects, the school bags are full already and it is very heavy. yes, school provides books in library or even at class, but when everyone wants to have one only the first batch of students can be sure to have it.



    i don't think ipad will be 100% across all schools. if a school decides to use HP pad, then book suppliers can provide online book service to this particular school. this relationship is decided not by apple but school district. apple is just giving a push into this direction which will be happening regardless.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LuxoM3 View Post


    State Boards are now super tempted now to buy iPads versus text books - long run cost savings, less distribution issues, less paper, etc. Now think of your local school on the TV and radio announcing how the class of XX will ALL have iPads versus textbooks. Yippee right?





    Problem - bullies don't steal textbooks. But bullies, thieves, meth-heads, thugs, etc WILL steal iPads. Now picture your kids walking home from school with a $500 iPad on their backs. Maybe NOT in your neighborhood... but think of the poor kid who has to walk through the ghetto to get home.



    Hey, not downing Apple but... this education push should be at college level. Not Elementary to High School.



    Not everyone lives in Atherton, California!



  • Reply 33 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Ouch! 8GB would be anemic for a semester's course load, but so would 16GB, with 2 chapters at 1GB.



    They sync with iTunes on your Mac, so you can have them sync up over the network as you browse through them.
  • Reply 34 of 41
    technotechno Posts: 737member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Ouch! 8GB would be anemic for a semester's course load, but so would 16GB, with 2 chapters at 1GB.



    I foresee larger drives not smaller. But yes, there will be a low end deal for students
  • Reply 35 of 41
    A company called Inkling has been producing interactive textbooks for iPad for some time now... wonder if this is competition for them...
  • Reply 36 of 41
    jetzjetz Posts: 1,293member
    What I'm curious is why any school board would choose Apple? If I were an administrator, why would I not choose $200 Kindle Fires (or some other eReader/tablet) and sign deals with the book publishers for pretty close to the same prices.



    Even if the publishers were forced to charge $20 per book instead of $15 because of some special Apple clause, the total cost of ownership over 4 years of high school would still be lower than the iBooks 2/iPad combination. Maybe, I'm missing something, but I'm failing what's solely compelling to school admins about going with $500 iPads. For schools to adopt this, surely the price of the hardware itself has to come down a little.



    I do wish Apple had gone after college texts. That's where they really could have been disruptive. Let's face it, nobody should really be paying more than $15-$20 for high school textbooks anyway. That's all they are really worth. A really good teacher could probably teach a lot of high school courses, without a textbook, and by putting up his/her own homework questions.
  • Reply 37 of 41
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jetz View Post


    What I'm curious is why any school board would choose Apple? If I were an administrator, why would I not choose $200 Kindle Fires (or some other eReader/tablet) and sign deals with the book publishers for pretty close to the same prices.



    Even if the publishers were forced to charge $20 per book instead of $15 because of some special Apple clause, the total cost of ownership over 4 years of high school would still be lower than the iBooks 2/iPad combination. Maybe, I'm missing something, but I'm failing what's solely compelling to school admins about going with $500 iPads. For schools to adopt this, surely the price of the hardware itself has to come down a little.



    I do wish Apple had gone after college texts. That's where they really could have been disruptive. Let's face it, nobody should really be paying more than $15-$20 for high school textbooks anyway. That's all they are really worth. A really good teacher could probably teach a lot of high school courses, without a textbook, and by putting up his/her own homework questions.



    Kindle Fires are not the same experience as an iPad. It's not some mythical Apple tax it's less than half the display area. A textbook page is about the dimension of the iPad's screen. You can't even do the same pinch and zoom maneuvers on the Fire because it only has dual-input touch.
  • Reply 38 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave K. View Post


    I can't imagine too many districts letting school owned iPads leaving school grounds anyways...



    Remember homework? You can't do your homework if you can't take your book home...
  • Reply 39 of 41
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave K. View Post


    I can't imagine too many districts letting school owned iPads leaving school grounds anyways...



    Really? My daughter's school gives out HP tablets (the old clunky Windows XP type) and the students can take them home when needed.





    On a different subject, the following article is interesting:

    http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...20-Percent-HMH



    So much for the "it's all about the teacher, not the books" argument.
  • Reply 40 of 41
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    I can see Apple having an 8GB iPad 2


    The very existence of even ONE of these textbooks proves this wrong.


    That Life On Earth book? I'm downloading it. They say it's two chapters for free right now, right?


    It's a gigabyte.


    No way does an 8GB iPad make ANY sense.

    There are now 7 free books, totalling 41 chapters. Ok to download to your Mac and using iBooks on it. iOS users might not be ok with the size, it totals 7,2GB

    itunes.com/loe
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