A greener, cheaper alternative to buying textbooks is now available at the Skyline bookstore.
The bookstore currently has eight eBooks in stock, each costing about 30 percent less than buying a brand new textbook. The eBooks are also available for downloading onto either a PC or Mac.
There are multiple downsides to buying the new eBooks, which is probably why only one eBook has been sold in the bookstore thus far.
The first downside that that there will be an expiration date on the eBooks. Publishers will establish a time period during which the eBooks can be accessed. Once their offer expires, students will not be able to access their purchased eBooks again. So a student would have to buy the eBook all over again if they failed a course the first time around and would like to retake the class.
A second reason the eBooks aren’t selling is that students will have to access the eBook from only one computer. Once a student buys an eBook from the bookstore, they have to download the software for the eBook program and then download the eBook onto the computer they will be using to access the book for the rest of the semester.
This means that students would not be able to share the eBooks with their friends or be able to access them to do homework on more than one computer. They would only be able to access the eBook from a library computer if the student both registered the eBook and continued to access it from one specific computer in the library.
Another reason why the eBooks aren’t popular is that “even the eBook quality can be poor,” asserted bookstore manager, Kevin Chak. So even though the eBook might look great on the computer, if the text were printed out, it would look relatively blurry with smaller text than presented onscreen. To further discourage potential buyers, there is a limit on number of times a page can be printed.
Yet another downside is that there is a confusing dual-numbering system for the pages. One set of page numbers will be for the eBook page numbering while the second set of numbers matches the actual textbook pagination. This “may be confusing for students trying to follow along with the readings in their syllabus,” Chak notes.
An additional problem with the eBooks is that once text is highlighted, it will remain there permanently, forever. The eBook has an autosave feature so if all of the text were accidentally highlighted, there would be no feasible way to undo it.
Also, if a student does not back up their computer and it crashes, they will lose their eBook as neither the publisher nor bookstore can restore their access. Since many students never back up their work, this could be very problematic.
When purchasing an eBook, the buyer is given a gift-card-looking voucher. This voucher and the purchase receipt are required in order to activate the eBook. However, if a student were to lose or damage their receipt, they would be unable to access the eBook as well as lose all of the money spent.And finally, the eBook would have no buyback value at the bookstore.
Because of these multiple downsides, Chak does not believe that eBooks will actually sell in the bookstore until publishers make their software programs operable under one uniform program. But after the eBooks become more viable, he is sure that sales will go up and the eBooks will be a permanent new addition to the bookstore.
