Podcast for 5-2-2011

[MrBogosity]

Pardon my cynicism as far as the text books go, but I think a "textbookless" campus would result in higher text book prices for a lot of college students. Colleges have been trying for years to undercut the used book business and making it so that all of the books are digital would be a great way to do that.

I don't see how. The increasing prevalence of digital books would mean that each year there are fewer students wanting the used books than there are books being turned in to be resold. So there'd be more used books available for those who didn't want or have a tablet computer.

[Virgil0211]

Curses...

You know, you could be using these posts as an opportunity to get in a continuation on the meme. As it is...

What!? There's no WAY that can be right, CAN *unintelligible, never bothered to figure out what he was saying*!!!!!!!

I don't see how. The increasing prevalence of digital books would mean that each year there are fewer students wanting the used books than there are books being turned in to be resold. So there'd be more used books available for those who didn't want or have a tablet computer.

It's actually a bit funny around here. There are 3 or 4 textbook stores right next to the campus, and they'll actually beat the school store's prices most of the time. Getting a better deal online has become less of a safe assumption and more of something to double check. Although, the book store released this really stupid pamphlet about why their prices are so high, with a bunch of bullshit excuses any first year econ student can see through in an instant. Things like "it helps us to keep the costs of tuition as low as they are" and "it helps provide on-campus jobs for students". Do they really think that low of us, or are people just generally that stupid when it comes to economics.

Oh, wait... I know the answer already. I just don't want to admit it.

[Travis Retriever]

You know, you could be using these posts as an opportunity to get in a continuation on the meme. As it is...

What!? There's no WAY that can be right, CAN *unintelligible, never bothered to figure out what he was saying*!!!!!!!

Virgil:  By the way, Surhot, did I mention my lamopower rating in this forum is over one million?
Surhot:  What??? NO WAY!

Unless you're too cool to know where that came from.

Tell Goku I said "hi."

[Virgil0211]

Virgil:  By the way, Surhot, did I mention my lamopower rating in this form is over one million?
Surhot:  What??? NO WAY!

Unless you're too cool to know where that came from.

Tell Goku I said "hi."

It should be forum, for the sake of funny.

And he actually said 'A million', to which Gohan responded with a shocked 'One million?'.

[Travis Retriever]

It should be forum, for the sake of funny.

And he actually said 'A million', to which Gohan responded with a shocked 'One million?'.

Touche.

Actually this was my source:  [yt]Unsn07KBEb4[/yt]

[MrBogosity]

Things like "it helps us to keep the costs of tuition as low as they are"

So they're saving you $200 on your tuition by charging you $200 more for books?

and "it helps provide on-campus jobs for students".

And the other bookstores don't provide jobs? Oh, they're not "on-campus," so that supposedly makes the difference somehow.

These aren't even economics fails--they're basic math fails!

[Travis Retriever]

I don't see how. The increasing prevalence of digital books would mean that each year there are fewer students wanting the used books than there are books being turned in to be resold. So there'd be more used books available for those who didn't want or have a tablet computer.

And don't forget the increased efficiency of using an e-book.  I'd be able to use Ctrl + f to find words I need to find instead of looking through the glossary, flipping back, etc. Really, it'd be quite a time saver.  Sounds like a net gain to me.

[FSBlueApocalypse]

I don't see how. The increasing prevalence of digital books would mean that each year there are fewer students wanting the used books than there are books being turned in to be resold. So there'd be more used books available for those who didn't want or have a tablet computer.

If you're being forced to use an iPad and purchase books through the store, how is the school not cracking down on used books? I don't have an iPad, so is there a way you could "resell" a digital copy of a book if you wanted to? If not, then eventually the editions of the digital books are going to vastly outdate the printed books, making used books obsolete and making students dependent on buying digital copies.

I know I've talked about this before, but at FSU they started making kids buy "semester specific" copies of textbooks for class. Everyone knew the only different between the "Fall 2008" and "Spring 2009" edition was the sticker on the cover, but most of the used book stores around town wouldn't buy them.

[Travis Retriever]

If you're being forced to use an iPad and purchase books through the store, how is the school not cracking down on used books? I don't have an iPad, so is there a way you could "resell" a digital copy of a book if you wanted to? If not, then eventually the editions of the digital books are going to vastly outdate the printed books, making used books obsolete and making students dependent on buying digital copies.

I know I've talked about this before, but at FSU they started making kids buy "semester specific" copies of textbooks for class. Everyone knew the only different between the "Fall 2008" and "Spring 2009" edition was the sticker on the cover, but most of the used book stores around town wouldn't buy them.

You can't just put the copy of the textbook on the web?  Or offer to sell a download of it to someone else?  Most "new" editions aren't that different to begin with, and students could probably get away with doing just that.

Oh, I'm sure there's no evasion of that rule.
And it's a rule that likely wouldn't fly in a free market for education.  And people wonder why I'm so huge on the idea of college/university being 100% left to free market forces.