E-textbooks, versions of books that can be read using programs like the Adobe Acrobat reader or put on Palm Pilots for reading, are now available at the AU bookstore.
E-textbooks are considered by many to be the wave of the future, however according to bookstore staff, texts are not regularly available in electronic formats unless a professor requests it for a class.
E-follet, the company that owns and operates the American University bookstore as well as 700 others nationwide, currently offers downloadable versions of some texts on its Web site, www.efollet.com.
According to the Web site, these versions generally cost less than the printed version of the textbook.
Low cost, easy access, convenience and convergence are the factors that Robert Reynolds, President of Xplana Learning, Inc., an e-textbook software company based in Boston lists as those driving the e-textbook market today.
However, Brown pointed out that he sees the e-text market as similar to that of digital music five years ago, where everyone pointed out similar flaws and today everyone download music regularly.
Reynolds said that there is a current trend in society towards converging all digital device functions. He cites the cell phone as the leader in convergence, with cell phones now being able to play music, surf the internet, e-mail and take high quality video and pictures.
He said Xplana believes that the future of the e-textbook lies with the cell phone and other so called convergence platforms, such as Microsoft's new Origami, which is intended to compete with Apple's popular iPod, but will also include a host of other features, like the ability to surf the Internet, because of the demand for all digital information to be readable on one device.
Students and professors on the American University campus see advantages and disadvantages to e-textbooks. The chief benefit cited is cost reduction with both students and professors saying e-textbooks are more affordable than textbooks.
"I used an e-text from Atomic Dog Publishing in my advanced undergraduate and graduate level Psychology Research class about three years ago," said psychology professor Brian Yates. "The text was inexpensive, animated with moving graphs and interactive diagrams. I enjoyed it especially since I could make notes on it that the students could read."
However, Yates also said that students did not like the text because it required having constant high speed Internet access to gain access to certain functions of the text, and some of them did not have constant access. Another problem cited by many students was the lack of the physical text in front of them.
"The only problem I have with an e-textbook is you can't highlight them or copy and paste sections," said Brian Brown, a junior in the School of Public Affairs.
The lack of profitability for publishers to switch to e-texts and the current technological shortfalls that do not allow students to highlight text or read it with ease are holding back market expansion said Reynolds.
Also many students don't like to have to pay for the cost of printing sections out or reading text off a screen.
"I hate reading things on a screen, it gets tedious," said Ross Holman, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs.
The biggest problem for the e-textbook market is the publishers, Reynolds said.
"Publishers are struggling to find a business model that is profitable," he said.
In many cases, it's not the cost of paper and printing, but the cost of copy editing and paying for the rights to material that cost textbook publishing companies a lot of money said Reynolds.
The publishing companies recoup these costs in the price of the books, which in recent years has led to more expensive books. Because there is a static market demand for textbooks, using e-textbooks will not lessen the cost of publication for the publisher and will only reduce their profit margins said Reynolds.
