University students turning to downloadable textbooks
Some students are saving money (and their backs) with e-texts
Lyman doesn’t buy the idea that the “‘buy a used book and hope to sell it back at the end of the semester’ model” is keeping students from saving a guaranteed 50 per cent up front.
“There are other students for whom that’s a hassle – they’re not interested, it’s time-consuming, they’ve been burned,” said Lyman.
Digital textbooks also offer features that traditional textbooks simply can’t match, like being able to search for a particular word or to download just one chapter, said Lyman.
As for the subscription model, it’s necessary to protect publishers from having their material passed along, free of charge, to other students, said O’Neill.
O’Neill concedes some industrious user could find a way to pirate e-textbooks the same way music files and movie clips are shared, but believes students will pay for information they find valuable.
“They need to think of themselves down the road: are they going to give away their intellectual property for free when they’re finished their education and out in the workforce? No. They want to be paid,” said O’Neill.
As for Alvarez, who has downloaded novels onto her iPhone but never contemplated storing textbooks there, she’s intrigued by the option of going digital – which would quite literally be a big weight off of her shoulders.
“Carrying books to school is not easy . . . I’m a very small person, so anything off my back is fine with me,” Alvarez said.
- The Canadian Press
