Download Your Textbooks no comments
Back to school time is here again already, and with it come all of the related expenses. More and more textbooks are becoming available as digital downloads, and in many cases will be significantly cheaper than their paper versions, not to mention easier for you to carry around. Of course it would be great if
all digital textbooks were available for Kindle or other ebook readers. Unfortunately we are not quite there yet, but if the textbooks you need are not available on your ebook reader, they may be available in a digital version for your computer. There are an increasing number of online providers for etextbooks, and we will take a look at some of the largest:
CourseSmart
Offers over 7,000 digital textbooks for college, costing on average 50% less than the dead tree versions. Search capabilities, highlighting, note taking, and copy/paste are supported. You can also print out pages from CourseSmart’s etextbooks. Students can subscribe to either a downloadable version of an etext or an online version that can be accessed from any computer. Subscriptions last for 180, 360, or 540 days. Subscribers can also access their etextbooks via their iPhones and iPod Touch.
Textbooks.com
eTexts from Textbooks.com are downloaded to your personal computer and read using Adobe Digital Edition, Adobe Reader 7.1, or VitalSource Reader. Printing is allowed unless banned by the publisher. Subscriptions last for a minimum of 12 months.
iChapters
iChapters sells not only entire etextbooks, but also individual chapters. This can enable you to buy just the chapters that you need, or to pay as you go through the course. iChapters’ digital textbooks can be either viewed online or downloaded to your computer. You get two licenses for each title, so you can access from two different computers. Printing is allowed.
Update: iChapters is having a contest, you can enter to Win $1000 in Free Textbooks from iChapters.com. Expires August 26, 2009.
www.ecampus.com
This online seller of both paper versions and digital textbooks has over 4,000 etexts available. Titles are available in either an online or downloadable version. Subscription lasts for one or two semesters. eCampus also buys your used paper textbooks.
Cafescribe’s e-textbooks support note sharing and text to speech functions in addition to the other common features. Purchasers are granted a lifetime license to a title on up to three computers. You must use the company’s MyScribe reader software. Limited printing (up to 30%) is permitted, and the same limits apply to copy/paste. MyScribe is also available in a portable version that you can install on a USB key.
Textbookmedia.com
Digital textbooks from this provider are free, as they are supported by in-text advertising. You can also upgrade to ad-free versions. Free versions support only very limited printing capability; if printing out passages is a priority you may want to upgrade.
