eloquacious Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I love a "real" book as much as the next person, but after having two IKEA 5x5 Expedits filled to the brim with books, many cubbies double-stacked, and my older son is only 3, I've started to consider getting some of my "texts" for the Kindle. I bought BFSU for Kindle, knowing that if I wanted a larger screen, I can always read them on my laptop's Kindle app. I've just placed a request for an interlibrary loan for Phonics Pathways and Reading Pathways, because I can't afford to just keep buying books every time I feel the urge to own all manner of curricular choices, but part of me still wants to own them, and I figured a Kindle edition would solve that - but neither PP nor OPGTR or anything of interest is available for the Kindle. Boo. I wonder how many more of us would own multiple curricula if it became THAT much cheaper to get them? I know there are certainly collectors among the members of this board. ;) Surely there's something "in it" for the publishers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 See, I don't find the prices on ebooks to be that much cheaper. For example, FLL 1 is 14.95 in paper and 11.94 as a PDF. That isn't that much of a difference. I'd rather own a hard copy I can loan, resell or just give away, at that price. I also don't find a kindle to be big enough. There is very little white space with an ereader and I find it awkward to enlarge the text. Some books allow you to change the words per line but others just allow zooming. I do have a couple science books on my kindle and the text is too small to read! I have to zoom in on sections and sort of toggle back and forth. It isn't very practical. I would need the price to come down a lot more and be easier to navigate to really invest anything in ebooks for school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 As to pricing, I agree that it should be a more marked difference, considering you can't resell, but the page layout shouldn't be a major problem, as it wouldn't just be a .pdf, but an edition made for the Kindle or Nook or iPad - meaning the pagination would be different, and there'd be less text per page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Have you filled your basement yet? Put books in tubs to rotate? Aw shucks, you still have plenty of options to keep filling your house. You're not done till the floors sag. :) The profit margin is so slim in homeschool curriculum, the only thing I would think would motivate the shift to pdf tm's is it being in *their* interest, not ours. Then you'd have no resale, no used market, no way to get stuff on the cheap. That would be an unhappy world. And frankly, the ereaders I've seen so far aren't good enough for it. Only the ipad comes close, and that's expensive. And hard on the eyes. Remember too, some books you want, older gems, may never make it to e form. You just don't know. A lot of the older books I've gotten have turned out to be dd's favorites, books she reads over and over. There's not that serendipity of discovery if it's hidden in some subject category on your electronic device, kwim? I love that we have piles of books everywhere. And I like that there's the option to replace those piles with a kindle when we're ready. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joysworld Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I really do not like ebooks. It just seems so odd to me to read a book with out an actual book:P As for homeschool books, I rather have the hard copy. The free ebooks I have gotten, I have printed them out and spiral bound them. It would be cheaper to just by the hard copy:D I only buy books that I seriously love and can not do without. For all other books, I borrow from the library or friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 See, I don't find the prices on ebooks to be that much cheaper. For example, FLL 1 is 14.95 in paper and 11.94 as a PDF. That isn't that much of a difference. I'd rather own a hard copy I can loan, resell or just give away, at that price. :iagree: My dh bought me a kindle, and while I like it for all of the free books, I prefer 'real' books much more. And if I'm only paying a few dollars less, I'd rather just find the book used somewhere. But if they decided to start making curriculum books for Kindle that were FREE, I'd be excited. :D Plus I like the look of bookcases. My dh said (when I was opening the kindle), "Now you won't need to keep buying bookshelves." I told him not to get his hopes up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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