Murphy101 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I'm looking at the $800 in textbooks for fall semester and a few of them are cheaper (by about $25-50) if I rent them for my kindle. If it works, that option could potentially save me a couple hundred dollars this semester. I don't have a kindle, but I do have the kindle app on our old iPads. (all versions wifi only, no data pack). Can any of you tell me if this would work or is working for your kids? Any pointers or fine print I need to know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 I use the Kindle app on my iPad all the time. It is awesome. I actually prefer it to our kindles, as I like highlighting in color. :) I've also had iBooks that are texts. I have used them personally for ME, but I got the kids paper copies of the texts. It is generally easier to flip around in a paper book, but it is lighter to carry the iPad, lol. Personally, I prefer paper books for major science or math texts, but that is probably because I am an old fogey. If it is a text that just requires reading and not a lot of problem solving, then e-texts would probably be just fine. But, it still seems a bit awkward for me to flip around in an e-text, so working problems at the end of the chapter, flipping back to reference a sample problem or other chapter content, then going to answers in the back, etc, seems like it could be a PITA. But, reading a literature text would be awesome in the e-text, as would history, etc. That said, I love, love having the kindles and the iPad as readers. I use them all the time, and I'll probably get more used to using them for all sorts of texts as the year progresses, especially as I'll have an e-text for my own copy of Giancoli's physics this year. (I'm too cheap to buy THREE copies! The kids each have paper copies.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 The only fine print that mattered to me when I was in college and considering the same thing is that you can't sell back the ebook. If I couldn't find a used copy of the textbook I needed I bought new (even though the ebook was cheaper) because even if I only sold the textbook back for 50% of the buying price I was still spending less on the book in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 The only fine print that mattered to me when I was in college and considering the same thing is that you can't sell back the ebook. If I couldn't find a used copy of the textbook I needed I bought new (even though the ebook was cheaper) because even if I only sold the textbook back for 50% of the buying price I was still spending less on the book in the long run. How quickly did you sell it tho? That's what I figured last semester and I didn't even get 30% of what I paid even tho they were in like new cond. and it took months for them to sell even at that price. :/ Very frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 My college bookstore had a buy-back program for books bought from them, so I would sell my books back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. It sounds like in your situation it might be cheaper to use ebooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 My college bookstore had a buy-back program for books bought from them, so I would sell my books back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. It sounds like in your situation it might be cheaper to use ebooks. Our college bookstore has a buy back program too. It's so pathetic though that almost no one uses that I'm aware of unless they don't know any better. I did it once and was really ticked. Seriously. They wanted to give me like $10 for the like new text I paid over a $100 for 3 months previously. :/. I'll double check to see if their program has changed any tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 How quickly did you sell it tho? That's what I figured last semester and I didn't even get 30% of what I paid even tho they were in like new cond. and it took months for them to sell even at that price. :/ My students all sell their books right back to the *college* bookstore. Another good option is amazon's buy-back program; for very sought after texts, you can sell them directly back to amazon very easily for substantial amounts of money. You do not have to be a seller on marketplace and hope for customers. The few of my college students who tried electronic textbooks because they were cheaper did not like it for math and science; too small a screen to see the entire double page, flipping back and forth was a hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 It may be different with textbooks, but I have had some frustration with reading some kinds of nonfiction on my Kindle and my mom says the same thing about reading quilt and craft books on her iPad. Pictures and graphics like charts don't always carry the right formatting on the Kindle. We have been lucky with textbook resale so I would hate to let that go. We have some sold back on the direct buy on Amazon, but most often we sell them ourselves on Amazon. We price them very competitively and write good descriptions. We've gotten stuck with one expensive science textbook because the edition changed so it was basically worthless at that point, but several others we have gotten back about half of the original price. One art history textbook from last year that was $160 new we sold for $120 used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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