Apple Nets 350K Textbook Downloads In 3 Days 376
redletterdave writes "On Jan. 19, Apple introduced iBooks 2, its digital solution to the physical textbook. In the first three days of release, users have downloaded more than 350,000 e-textbooks from the new platform, and more than 90,000 users have downloaded the authoring tool to make those e-textbooks, called iBooks Author. It makes sense that Apple's iBooks 2 platform is taking off in such a short period of time; there is very little merit to the physical textbook, and the education industry has been waiting for a viable solution like this for some time. Physical textbooks lack portability, durability, accessibility, consistent quality, interactivity and searchability, and they're not environmentally friendly."
Not to mention... (Score:5, Insightful)
...that you can resell a physical textbook, sometimes, and that cuts into textbook publisher profits.
Re:Not to mention... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not to mention... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yep, but remember some books like say your biology textbook, benefit greatly from this refresh, but a writing book??? Sounds like a partial racket, confirmed by 1k+ college textbook bills. Irregardless of research, some people are making bank on this.
Re:Not to mention... (Score:5, Funny)
Irregardless not of unwhat you maynotbe athinking, tis not unprecisely an acromulent word.
Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless
Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because [ain't]'s also a word.
It's an especially fun example of the futility of this sort of "peevery", since the peevers' campaign against "ain't" has had the effect of increasing its use.
The original use of "ain't" many centuries ago was as the contraction for "am not". Now, you might wonder how "am"+"not" gives "ain't", and one answer is that it's the same process that turned "will"+"not" into "won't", which is every bit as silly. Human languages do silly things like that all the time. But the peevers don't seem to rant about "won't"; they only declared a pogrom against "ain't". And the result has been that the common speech in many dialects now also use "ain't" as the contraction for "is"+"not" and "are"+"not". It has become the general negative for all present tense forms of "be".
But really, we should probably let the language peevers have their fun. At least they're not rounding up the ain't-sayers and burning them at the stake. They're just posting peeves in discussions like this, because to them the war against their favorite banned contraction is more important than, say, massive increases in availability and decreases in price for educational textboooks.
Some people just have different value scales than the rest of us.
I wonder if any of the newly-available electronic textbooks include linguistically valid histories or grammars of the English language?
Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:4, Funny)
Irregardless is absolutely a word.
Very true, and it would be confrugulous to add the every neologism has that irredufable claim. Irrespective and regardless (sorry, I mean 'irregardless') of wissent the constambulantient grammar nazi's think!
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Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps this is why text books are updated. English is a fluid language and changes over time, http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Irregardless&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a [google.com.au], 2,070,000 results, quite significant for a non-word.
Just straight shifting text books to computers is pretty pointless. The real idea is to create interactive tutorials and simulations backed up with reference material, typically reports covering specific subjects within a body of work that covers the topic. This more readily allows far broader input into the topic and avoids having thousands of text books covering the exact same material, in pretty much the same manner, with the only difference being the prejudices of the instructors.
Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:5, Funny)
He means "disirregardless".
Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:4, Funny)
I'm going to have to find ways to use it ...
Use it?
I think I've been there - it's a town in Wales.
Re:Speaking of not mentioning...oh hell, I will (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course it's a word. You can add all sorts of prefixes and suffixes to existing words, and they will still be "real" words.
The problem here is that the word actually means the opposite of what the guy wanted to say.
It's the same as all those idiots who say "I could give a [thing]" instead of "I couldn't give a [thing]" when they are trying to imply they don't care.
They're not actually thinking about the words they're saying - they're just repeating a bunch of syllables that they've heard (or misheard) from someone else.
I saw a thread about "ain't" below. I have no problem with contractions, and don't see why anybody should. They're adding to the language in a logical manner, rather than watering it down by rendering standard prefixes and suffixes meaningless.
Re:previous editions 'obsolete' (Score:2)
I have a nice little anecdote on that topic.
Being a Version Management fan, I got hold of some Second Edition of a Psych textbook back in the day, when I think the class was up to Fourth Edition. Besides saving the (then cheap!) $90, it in fact was bigger and better! I checked the introductions. Second Edition: "Blah Blah thank you to the 40 people who reviewed this, and my grant". Fourth Edition: "Streamlined with less common content removed for better initial presentation".
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"IT degree"
This saddens me.
Honestly, An I.T. degree? this should be an Electronics Engineering Degree with a minor in Computer Science. The fact there is such a thing as an I.T. degree makes me sad.
The other fact that the books do not get updated, makes me think the value of such a degree is invalid. IT books from just 6 years ago are 100% worthless today.
Re:Not to mention... (Score:4, Insightful)
What do I tell people when asked what I do for a living? "Work with computers" or "IT department". Nobody really gives a crap about my "Computer Network Systems Engineering" degree. {------"IT Degree" is short for "I don't want to have to say that every time"
Also, IT books from 6 years ago are still entirely relevant. A lot of my coursework was in Server 2003 and Cisco IOS environments, of which there are still thousands upon thousands of installs out in the field. We still use a system written in BBX that was just recently moved off of a SCO Unix machine. Just because technology marches on doesn't mean knowledge becomes irrelevant. On the contrary, the older and more scarce a technology becomes, the more valuable that knowledge becomes. I hear California was looking for some COBOL programmers recently :)
Re:Not to mention... (Score:5, Insightful)
Physical textbooks lack portability, durability, accessibility, consistent quality, interactivity and searchability, and they're not environmentally friendly."
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,
Oh wait, their serious.
Durability:
I still have textbooks from 1997,
My boss has a textbook from 1956 (borrowed from a university library, hate to imagine what 56 years of late fees look like).
My texbook gets rained on, 95% chance I can use it again.
I have a pile of broken Ipads out the back, they aren't even 3 years old yet.
Accessibility.
Ipads have about 6-7 hours of usable battery life (yes fanboys, this is what they get under real world conditions, especially after the battery has gone through a few charge (read: abuse) cycles).
Books dont run out of batteries and become unusable.
Not Enviromentally Friendly:
Right, we all know paper can be recycled right. Then made into new paper.
Sustainable forestry, try looking it up.
Ipads make more pollution when being made, then they continue to produce pollution whilst being used (they use electricity, producing electricity creates pollution).
The green angle has to be the most laughable out of all of these. Especially with Apples reputation.
Re:Not to mention... (Score:4, Insightful)
"As an aside, I would like to note that reselling your books is a scam anyway."
not really, I get a buttload of money from my wifes books every semester on Amazon.com, many times selling instantly for 80% of the purchase price, only a complete fool turns them into the bookstore.
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Camp out in the hall outside calc 2 during the last week of classes
Or just list them on Criagslist/whatever social media site you prefer...then you can just meet the person whenever/wherever is convenient and not be forced to sit in a hallway.
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You are correct, but they can have their DRM stripped and then dowloaded later from a nefarious site or simply kept. Which is what I do with my wifes Kindle rented textbooks. Strip the DRM and keep a local copy for her after the rental period ends.
Unofficial Source (Score:5, Insightful)
The numbers have been released by a third party. Remember that before you take them for granted and/or bash Apple.
I for one can't imagine what "proprietary methods" are able to estimate download numbers from Apple's servers.
They're also stupidly overpriced (Score:5, Insightful)
The textbook industry needed this swift kick in the nuts to break up the racket.
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Too late to tell you now, but you CAN probably share that analysis textbook w a buddy for 1/2 price. This works because system analysis depends heavily on stats and common sense. At least I remember not having to use mine a whole lot.
Past that, it depends on somebody's learning style as to the value of the textbook.. will I ever use it again? For me the answer is 95% no. The 5% I gave to a friend LOL (asp.net 1.1), they've come out w asp.net 4.0 since then (not all as forward think as you might believe).
Re:They're also stupidly overpriced (Score:5, Insightful)
Your professor could probably publish the damn thing himself with today's software tools, thereby kicking the textbook industry in the nuts.
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... and the EULA for the authoring tool... (Score:5, Informative)
forces you to sell only via the Apple Store. So, Apple will make 30% on every text book sold which is written in their new tool, and likey 30% on every new, yearly addition which changes a picture here or there and yet charges full price (what, you don't think this odious practice from physical books will make it into electronic textbooks?)
Talk about vendor lock-in.
And good luck trying to sell your book at the end of the year back to the Apple Store...
Re:... and the EULA for the authoring tool... (Score:4, Insightful)
Very little of that is relevant if it reduces the student's final book costs by 70%. I'll happily give Apple their book lock-in all day long if it saves me a few grand on textbooks. Wouldn't you?
(I yanked that 70% out of thin air, someone with better digging skills please dig up some hard numbers for us, but I can't imagine the savings being any LESS than that really, anyone that's had to pay their own college bills knows books are a complete racket)
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You say that now. I would be very suspicious of an industry-wide system tied to a single vendor. And I like Apple stuf but the fact that this is going to be an Apple only venue is very disturbing.
"Yes, I've altered the agreement. Pray I don't alter it any further."
Re:... and the EULA for the authoring tool... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I'm not so foolish as to dive head first into brand lock-in. I like having my books exist independent of one company's platform. Platform dependent books, who would have thought such nonsense would ever actually happen?
This is a problem that needs to be solved, but doing it by being stuck forever on one company's platform because they're severely anti-competitive is just stupid.
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But don't the colleges already have you locked in? "Buy this and this and this for the courses you've signed up for this semester". OK, what are your options? You buy this and this and this. There is no choice other than trying to get your hands on something used. There is no shopping around. At least iBooks is cheaper. It's also a heck of a lot easier to carry to class. And how can you possibly argue with [i]searchable[/i]? There are so many advantages over dead trees it's almost magical.
(and I wa
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I can always change colleges. And changing colleges does not negate the contents of the book, whereas I cannot access the contents of an Apple-dependent iBook from another platform (at least, not without bending over backwards.)
A less known option is to buy the international version of some books, same content but a fraction of the price.
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But don't the colleges already have you locked in? "Buy this and this and this for the courses you've signed up for this semester".
Now it's "Buy this and this and this, but you'll also need an ipad and those 'books' are tied to it and can't be used on any other platform." It's not like Apple has invented the ebook here, they're just trying to popularize the platform-specific ebook. Don't want an ipad? Too bad. They could have done it with an open format, or published their format, but of course that wouldn't allow them the lock-in they get with a closed format to which only their software can read and write...oh and for that software y
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Please. The format is not what is being used to push the lock-in...
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As a consumer, no. A significant portion of the value of a textbook, to me, is that I can keep it for life and use it as a reference, let other people borrow it, and, heck, pass it on to the next generation. (Certainly, when I was young, I spent a lot of time with my Dad's old text books.)
DRM-free, open-format digit
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Hell no. It would require my students to have apple hardware and software. That places a needless financial and technological limit on my students. I do however see a market vulnerability here. Apple wants to replace the textbook cartel lock-in with their own lock-in. A reasonably priced service/app for authors
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and the EULA for the authoring tool forces you to sell only via the Apple Store.
True, but we've seen this scene play out before. Apple's tool is only for getting content to sell more iPads, but as soon as there is a serious market, Adobe or someone else will be making tools that will make epub books specifically tailored for the iPad and for the leading Android and the Kindle. While I wish Apple would go with tools that publish to open standards right away I also see they are a business and want to encourage iPad sales, not just tablet sales in general. Now that we have a slick competi
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And it costs you $100-$150 to even sell a book. you have to buy a ISBN number. So every book title you sell is $100 cash out of your pocket.
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And it costs you $100-$150 to even sell a book. you have to buy a ISBN number. So every book title you sell is $100 cash out of your pocket.
Do ebooks sold in the Apple Store have to have ISBN numbers?
And I don't see any of the people who are whining about "lock-in" and "profiteering" bitching about things like the UPC and ISBN Cartels, who have taken the maintenance of a simple database and turned it into an industry-wide lock-in which, much like the proverbial "Mark of the Beast" none shall trade without paying the UPC/ISBN "toll".
Yet, Apple is vilified for taking the cost of a textbook down to a fraction of its usual cost, while simultane
Re:... and the EULA for the authoring tool... (Score:4, Insightful)
All of the many complaints about the 30% that Apple take for selling through their store are indignation based on ignorance of retail practices, this includes Pete Townsend. The publisher love that Apple only charge 30% because its far less than a normal retail channel. The publishers get more per sale electronically than they would selling physical books.
To answer your second point did you watch the announcement or are you just letting your predjudice define your opinions. One of the most interesting parts of the announcement was that these books would be updated, for free, meaning that you would always have the latest version. I'm still getting updates to app purchases I made on my iPhone 3 years ago. There is no reason why this wouldn't be the case for textbooks.
On your final point, rather than getting all high and mighty about it, just think about it. Why do you sell back your expensive textbooks? Partly because they are expensive. If they are cheap enough that you don't have to sell them back wouldn't it make sense to keep the book? I guess it depends on your view of education and knowledge. I view it as a life skill, something that you add to from year to year.
In general your post, and its rating, are why I've stopped look at Slashdot as a place to influence my opinion. It is filled with small minded opinion based on the status quo. I thought as geeks we were supposed to embrace change and look to the future. As with a lot in the world it seems that this happens less and less as the years go by.
What platform? (Score:5, Insightful)
So how does this "iBooks 2" work on non-iOS devices? Android? Linux? MS-Windows?
I have nothing against digital books, but if they are going to be locked up on a single platform, this is not a good thing (especially for educational uses).
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I have nothing against digital books, but if they are going to be locked up on a single platform, ...
What, you mean like they were on their previous platform, paper?
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Apple are a business, and free to build in as much lock-in on their platforms as they please. I am hoping that we will see competing solutions, and open ones would be even better, but with Apple offering authors an easy way to publish with a bigger slice of the profits, I fear we may see the Apple platform establish
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Your analogy is invalid –my iPad can be carried in many rucksacks ;)
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What, you mean like they were on their previous platform, paper?
Damn that's an interesting comparison.... I know there's something wrong with it but I just can't figure out what :D
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Re:What platform? (Score:4, Interesting)
I did a quick search and apparently the iBook format uses a proprietary CSS which makes it not entirely compatible between itself and ePub.
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Calibre did not seem to have any trouble reading one, once the file extension was changed from ".ibook" to ".epub".
You realise this is a DMCA copy protection violation?
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It is ePub, but using some CSS that isn't in the official ePub spec, so while it's strictly speaking "modified", anything based on an even vaguely recent rendering engine will cope with it quite happily.
Linux (Score:2)
strings filename | less
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It was probably modded "Insightful" by people who want to see things like schools and colleges require textbooks in OPEN FORMATS that can be read on any platform.
This has nothing to do with Android or any other "gang" being lazy. Do you think Apple would applaud any "solution" not designed by them that would allow the public to read such books on something not controlled by Apple? Or do you think Apple would *sue* other companies for patent infringement, perhaps DCMA stuff, or whatever else they can come
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Nobody prevents anyone wanting "open" textbooks from promoting their solutions. Just because they didn't/haven't/cannot, doesn't mean that they should stop Apple from push theirs. What Apple has may not be perfect (if there is such a thing), but it's light years better than what we currently have.
Every student forced to buy Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Every student forced to buy Apple (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah because we all know that Textbooks are free.
Oh wait, $790.00 in text books last semester alone for my wife. That's an Ipad and 5 textbooks in ibook form.
Or did you fail in a epic way and not read that ibook textbooks are price capped at $16.00
What?! (Score:5, Insightful)
They lack... portability? Ok, if you have to carry 5 of them around, I see your point. .... ok, you win.
Durability? Like, when I spill coffee on mine? Or, drop it? Or, draw mustaches on the people in it?
Accessibility?
Consistent quality? So, you're going to GUARANTEE consistent content quality in eBooks?
And, of course, the ebook argument wins on searchability. But let's face it, an Index/TOC is practically just as good. Unless you're searching for absolutely every occurrence of a specific word, a good index is just as good.
But, are we really going to argue that iPads are more environmentally friendly than text books? That would be an interesting discussion.
Re:What?! (Score:4, Insightful)
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until e-readers get a little more oomph I think traditional books are still easier to flip through rapidly.
Interesting point. Why should we read e-textbooks on an iPad when something like a Kindle is much cheaper, and provides a better (text) reading experience from all accounts. Ok, you can't put embedded videos, but perhaps that's a good thing (or at least a fair trade off to keep HW cost down and durability up).
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Much worse are books with illustrations that you need to refer to, or books with maps up front, where you'd be tempted to jump back and forth between them and your current page.
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Re:What?! (Score:4, Interesting)
Durability? Like, when I spill coffee on mine? Or, drop it? Or, draw mustaches on the people in it?
Anecdotally, I have heard students complain that book publishers have recently introduced a different kind of glue for the books' bindings, one which degrades rather quickly, over a year or so.
A quick search isn't turning up anything about this, but I have heard it enough over the past year or so to give it some credence. Perhaps others on /. who currently are students can share their experiences in this regard.
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They lack... portability? Ok, if you have to carry 5 of them around, I see your point.
Back in my day, that was a benefit. Hauling 30 pounds of books over many, many walked miles everyday in the central Texas heat made me thin and fit. UT can be a large campus when your schedule ping pongs you from one side to the other and back again all day. This was 1985, maybe things have changed :-P
Only freshmen carry 5 (Score:3)
College students eventually figure out that it is completely unnecessary to carry textbooks to class. It does, however, take time, so most go through the same progression: freshmen carry EVERYTHING and need to wear both straps of their backpack. Sophomores lighten the load and can use just one strap. Juniors carry a notebook. Seniors carry beer.
Aaaand the point of textbooks is completely missed (Score:2, Insightful)
"Physical textbooks lack portability, durability, accessibility, consistent quality, interactivity and searchability, and they're not environmentally friendly."
For me studying physics every day the e-textbook is still years away from being useful. I can agree with the portability argument but thats about it. I can, with a real, physical textbook have the following advantages over an iTextBook however:
- drop a textbook without breaking it, and even if I damage it I can still use it, not wait for my insurer
Environmentally friendly? (Score:5, Insightful)
iGadget: Mine toxic heavy metals. Make gadget with slave labor that last for a few years. Burn electricity to use gadget. Throw gadget in landfill when done. Repeat.
I think I'll stick with real books, thanks.
Anyone remember... (Score:2)
Now they are going to be telling us what to learn and think.
We were never at war with innovation, we are always at war with innovation.
Coming to you soon on the iBigBrother (with CarrierIQ).
90,000 downloaders does not = 90,000 authors! (Score:4, Interesting)
Author will save only to ".ibook" (a modified version of ".epub"), a crippled
I have no use for such lock-in, proprietary bullshit. I'll publish my work in a
Re:90,000 downloaders does not = 90,000 authors! (Score:4, Interesting)
The summary is a rip off (Score:4, Interesting)
example:
"...there is very little merit to the physical textbook, and the education industry has been waiting for a viable solution like this for some time. Physical textbooks lack portability, durability, accessibility, consistent quality, interactivity and searchability, and they're not environmentally friendly"
Seriously, go to apples website and watch their promo video (it actually is pretty cool) You will find that the summary was largely directly lifted. Are you trying to use these as your own words? They are not used in the story so...
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"...there is very little merit to the physical textbook, and the education industry has been waiting for a viable solution like this for some time."
Says who? No evidence is provided to substantiate either of these claims, other than a few quotes from "a teacher" taken from an Apple promotional video(!).
"Now that there's a device that can trump the textbook in every way -- the
Need to Read about Feynman on Textbooks (Score:3)
Paper Books != Meritless (Score:5, Funny)
"there is very little merit to the physical textbook"
--Pierre de Fermat
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Where are my mod points?!
Does anyone have documentation for the used format (Score:2)
Does anyone have documentation for the used format? I know it is almost epub/Html5 but exactly what did apple add, and what do they not support yet?
I can't use apples software due to the insane license deal, but would still like to produce books in this format.
How expensive are they? (Score:2)
The education industry has certainly NOT been "waiting for a viable solution like this for some time". The students have, and maybe even some sympathetic teachers, but textbooks are outrageously expensive, even the e-book versions, and somebody is profiting off it all.
A solution to the problem of expensive textbooks exists. There is an entire world of public domain textbooks out there, but all of them are useless when the professor tells you to read p.67-123 from the official textbook for a quiz tomorrow.
Bu
The post-Taco decline accelerates (Score:2)
So not only is the fanboy drivel not edited out, blatantly moronic statements like this are left in the summary.
Can I resell them? (Score:3)
What I want to know is if I can resell the digital textbook once I'm done with it like with a paper-based textbook. It's one way to help offset the price of the next textbook I might buy, but knowing Apple probably not.
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Now, that book you bought that you're able to resell - how much are you selling it for? I'm willing to bet you're not selling it for $15 below the price you paid for it which means the iBook costs less, even though you can't resell. You are out-of-pocket less money _and_ you get to keep the book.
Re:Can I resell them? (Score:4, Insightful)
Where can you buy other things distributed digitally (like music, movies and games), that you are allowed to resell later?
This isn't an Apple issue. Well, it is an issue that includes Apple, but to put it forward as if only Apple only does this is disingenuous.
Can you resell your Kindle ebooks?
Can you resell your Steam games?
Your Amazon music?
Apps you've bought on Android store?
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Now, this is a $150 textbook we are talking about.
Don't they cap the text books at $14.99?
As a university professor, I've taken a look (Score:5, Interesting)
It's very attractive in theory, but when I look at the license agreement I'm not sure I can go with it (About iBooks Author->License Agreement). If I use these tools and charge a fee I *have* to distribute the book through Apple. I understand the rationale. Why should the tool be free if I can turn around and distribute it somewhere else? It's only fair for Apple to expect something in return.
On the other hand I'm picturing what would happen if I put a few months work into a text, it becomes popular/useful to others, and then someone asks if other arrangements can be made for distribution (e.g., maybe someone wants to make and sell a regular paper edition). I'm stuck if I ever charged money for it.
Granted, the restriction only exists if you charge a fee. If the text is free "you may distribute the Work by any available means". This part is awesome! Full kudos to Apple for that and for making the agreement relatively simple. But what if I wanted to charge, say, $5 a textbook to help cover costs of its development and maintenance? Nothing substantial, but covering things like hiring a student to do drafting of figures, preparing photos, editing, that sort of thing. This would be publishing on the cheap rather than completely free. Unfortunately once you cross into the "fee" realm at all, you've made a deal for sole distribution with Apple, and it isn't clear whether there is any alternative.
Thus, as much as I like it, I hesitate, because I'm not certain I want to distribute my work for free rather than very cheap compared to the usual textbook. Maybe this is Apple's way to encourage people to write free works. If so, then I applaud their approach. I'm just not sure it is the way I want to go. At least with licenses like the GPL I have the *option* to charge money without having further license complications.
You're probably all thinking I'm a stingy old !#$%!% now :-)
Re:As a university professor, I've taken a look (Score:5, Insightful)
...if I put a few months work into a text, it becomes popular/useful to others, and then someone asks if other arrangements can be made for distribution (e.g., maybe someone wants to make and sell a regular paper edition). I'm stuck if I ever charged money for it.
No. You're not. You're misunderstanding the license restriction. The .ibooks file that iBooks Author creates can only be distributed through Apple. The book can be distributed any way you want. If you make a .ibooks file and sell it through Apple and garner some interest for a print version or a Kindle version or whatever, all you need to do is transfer the information to the new format and you can sell it.
.ibooks file, that is a reasonable restriction.
.ibooks files, you cannot sell the .ibooks files created with iBooks Author on that store.
The restriction applies to the _file_ that iBooks Author creates, not the book that you write. And, given that Apple is the only company to publish software that can (currently) read a
The key reason for the restriction is so that, should someone (such as a Cydia developer) create a program that can read
Never had a problem with textbooks... (Score:2)
On the other hand... (Score:2)
Physical textbooks lack portability, durability, accessibility, consistent quality, interactivity and searchability, and they're not environmentally friendly.
On the other hand, they're not encumbered by DRM, they don't vaporize after a hundred readings or a year, whichever comes first, they don't demand that you read them with Apple (R) iGlasses and they don't have to be vetted by a gatekeeper (who takes 30%) before being published.
HOLY LOAD OF BULLSHIT BATMAN! (Score:4, Funny)
"Physical textbooks lack portability, durability, accessibility, consistent quality, interactivity and searchability, and they're not environmentally friendly.""
Portability: I could carry my entire year in my backpack.
Durability: Yea, that little piece of silicon you're holding is just as susceptible to fire, heat, water, OH AND CRASHING. Books aren't crashing. Books don't need an expensive proprietary OS to work, they truly 'just work.'
Accessibility/interactivity/searching: Most books meant for rapid searching/accessibility have both indexes and a table of contents - TWO SEARCH ENGINES! IMAGINE THAT!
Consistent Quality: Books don't need software updates, and aren't prone to getting hacked. Revisions do happen, but they're few and far between because of TRUE quality control.
Environmentally Friendly: They're more environmentally friendly (and trap lots more carbon) than your strip-mined piece of silicon, iridium, cadmium, etc. Takes less energy to manufacture, too!
durability? (Score:3)
I can throw a book across the room and it might damage the cover of a hardcover, but it will still work fine. I wouldn't want to try this with an ipad or a kindle. Under reasonable storage conditions, paper will remain readable after magnetic platters have gotten demagnetized and CDs have corroded.
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Well, they are environmentally friendly as long as you ignore how the devices were produced, where the electricity comes from and the effects of having to replace one when the device finally fails. Not to mention the frequent resale of textbooks and that they don't require any energy to work.
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Re:What Apple will be remembered for (Score:4, Insightful)
And what precedent in history have you seen that would make you believe this?
They will still be overpriced, locked into the walled garden and the secondary market will be eradicated. Thinking otherwise is just falling into the trap that has already been laid with other eBooks.
Win for publisher, fail for students. Apple is just a profit machine for content creators and evidently there are a lot of suckers who believe otherwise.
Re:What Apple will be remembered for (Score:4, Funny)
"But what happens when I want to go to school with my Galaxy Tab, and I'm told that I can't get my "digital textbooks" because they're not supported on my device?"
The rest of your students don their white robes point at you and emit a screetching sound that penetrates your soul. as you run down the hallway you hear chants from the other students of ...."join us, be one of us...join us...."
That is pretty much what happens.
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"But what happens when I want to go to school with my Galaxy Tab, and I'm told that I can't get my "digital textbooks" because they're not supported on my device?"
The rest of your students don their white robes point at you and emit a screetching sound that penetrates your soul.
Like this? [youtube.com]
Re:The customer is the university..... (Score:4, Insightful)
It doesn't matter if the University recommends them or not because prior to this announcement if I wanted to learn University Level Physics I had to spend $250 bucks on the textbook, now I can buy a comparable textbook from iBooks for $15.00 and receive information updates for the life of that edition.
Whether its a big deal in schools or not, though I really have a feeling this will be huge in the K-12 market, my desire to learn something isn't tied to expensive textbooks anymore. This is a good thing.
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Luckily, it only takes buying 2.1 books before you've paid for your iPad at that rate, and hey, then you've got a really pretty awesome tablet too!
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Then take the MIT courses for free. they give you the textbook as well as all the lectures in video form. And I am certian that the MIT professors teach a lot better than a podunk college professor like you find at Notre Dame, UofM, or Brown.
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No. Show me an iPad that can survive being run over by a car and then getting soaked.
Show me a book that can survive getting soaked. Show me a book that can survive being carried around in a backpack for a couple of years.
What does that even mean when you're talking about books?
When was the last time you heard a paper book reading it's contents to you?
Ever heard of an index?
An index is not the same as the ability to search.
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Define soaked. If we're talking about complete submersion for an extended time, obviously that will destroy a paper book. But if we're talking about spilling a drink on it, a book can easily survive that (maybe a couple pages get ruined at most) where as an electronic device can easily be wrecked.
And books have no problem surviving being carried around for years. I dunno what books you're using, but I have several textbooks that I purchased used, carried around, and still own to this day. They're a bit