Rik Myslewski writes in The Register that, “According to a report by The Seattle Times, the USD489, 18.9 ounce (0.54kg) Kindle DX, with its 9.7-inch monochrome e-ink display, is getting bad grades from college students.”The survey found that: “80 per cent of MBA students at the University of Viginia said they wouldn't recommend the Kindle DX as a study aid — but 90 per cent enjoyed using it to read for pleasure.”
Amazon distributed Kindle DXs to students at a number of US colleges, and found that the way students use textbooks, traditional hard-copy is more usable because it is easier to thumb through, search, and scribble on it than on an ebook. (Typically, college students will have several books open at the same time when working on a paper, something the Kindle would be woefully inadequate to handle.)
According to he Seattle Times, some students “liked the Kindle DX's long battery life and portability, along with the fact that putting a book on it doesn't require the death of a tree. However, they weren't jazzed by the inability to scribble notes onto or easily highlight snippets, nor did they appreciate the lack of color in an ebook's charts and graphics.”
So, how will the iPad fare on campuses then? Methinks, while research is not what it will be used for, it opens up a whole new possibility in textbooks. Imagine a fully interactive medical or engineering book application. It is mind blowing, though it might take a while to get there. Or, not.
One thing is clear. Future publishing lawsuits will be less about copyrights and more about patents.
The Register
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