Texan News

Tarleton community reacts to Apple’s entry into textbook market

By Texan News Service

Matthew Weinzetl, a sophomore communication studies major, studies his tablet in the Dick Smith Library.

Photo by Monica Man

Tarleton members had mixed reactions to Apple’s announcement that it will begin distributing electronic textbooks; cost, technology failures and comfort were factors for those interviewed on campus this week.

Apple recently unveiled plans to release an app, iBooks 2, that enables the use of interactive textbooks, which will be available on the iPad. USA Today reported that these digital textbooks will showcase ample use of video and animations that Apple hopes students will find engaging.

Stephanie Davison, a sophomore marketing major from Poole, England, said she is not interested in e-books because she likes to sell textbooks back at the end of the semester for that extra bit of cash. The used-book fan also said she prefers to have the physical book for highlighting.

Nicole Diduch shared similar sentiments. The freshman nursing major said technology can fail and she likes that a standard textbook is more stable in your hands.

"I'm not big into downloading books because I like to actually have the books in my hands that way if the computer crashes or if something was to happen I'd still have my book,” she said.

A Fort Worth Apple store representative named Leilana (per store policy she would not reveal her last name) confirmed that if a device needed to be re-formatted, students would be able to re-download materials. She also said once purchased, access to the book is unlimited.

Mayra Marquez, a sophomore social work major, was for the electronic textbook.  She said, "I think it would be easier than having to carry your whole textbooks around."

Senior Carolyn Ordiway-Thiem said she spent about $400 on books this semester and that this was “cheap” compared to last semester’s $700. Apple has priced its iBooks at $15 or less, according to a report by NPR.

Ordiway-Thiem, an English/technical writing major, said, "I like to take notes in the margins and I sometimes keep the textbooks to look to later.” She said she may consider buying a tablet in the future to save money due to the increasing prices of textbooks and possible graduate school.

Tarleton’s bookstore manager, Carrie McCann, said the store recently switched to a new provider that allows them to offer textbooks that can be purchased specifically for iPads and iPhones so she wasn't overly concerned with Apple's announcement.

Apple touted the fact that textbooks could be more than a just two-dimensional product. The books could feature interactive models and diagrams. Ordiway-Thiem said she is also worried that the e-books will be more about the flash and show in the images and graphics, rather than the actual content.

Campus librarian Yvonne Mulhern said e-textbooks are a neat idea, but worries that Apple would corner the market and become a monopoly. "I like the idea of textbooks being on a tablet, but can everyone afford an iPad?" she said.

According to Apple.com one of the many features of this new textbook application would be that professors have the ability to create their own textbooks, but it appears that in order to do so professors must do so on a Mac.  

Dr. Jennifer Ladd, assistant professor of the English and languages department, said buying an iPad and iBooks would almost equal the cost of buying those textbooks in the store, in the long run.  She believes e-textbooks would be beneficial to herself, as well as her students.

Dr. Phillip Murry, a chemistry professor, said, “In the lower level classes I do not require the students to have textbooks. If there is any way for the students to have the textbook cheaper, then I would approve of it as long as they don’t mind reading off of a screen.”

Junior Clay Stanford is an iPad owner and was enthusiastic about the idea. "Apple is making textbooks compatible with the technology of today," he said.

Lathes Towns, director of Transition and Family Relations, said textbooks on an iPad were a great idea and that "anything that will help our students at Tarleton State will be fantastic...I'm all for it."

Paris Picard, a sophomore from Burleson, said she spent $500 on textbooks this semester, all used from Amazon. She bought a Kindle thinking she could use it for textbooks then realized none of the books she needed were available on the Kindle. If books were much cheaper on the iPad than in print, she would purchase an iPad and use iBooks. Graduate student Trey Berend had a similar reaction. He spent $120 on books for just one class on Amazon. If e-textbooks were cheaper, he’d switch.

On the contrary, Dayna Derrick already owns an iPad but said she would not buy electronic textbooks because she prefers a physical textbook. She admitted the idea was good, but is also concerned about job security. The education major works at Campus Store, which sells physical textbooks.

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The following students from a media writing course conducted the reporting for this article: Chelsey Burke, Jase Charbonnet, Mike Daniels, Aida Delgado, Jaci Ingram, Jay Johnson, Tara Krueger, Monica Man, Jordan McCrory, Shelby McKnight Scott, Tairyn Mutz, Rafael Sanchez and Robert Zeleznak.

Editing by Amanda Arrambide, Tayler Atkins, Jenny Cline, Deana Coan, Trayveon Davis, Monica De Los Santos, Kayla Fritz, Nicole Hengst, Hillary King, Caleb McCaig, Whitney McCorkle, Ashylne Menchaca, Amanda Ogle, Lindsey Rader, Tedi Schmidt, Ian Troub, and Amber Ward.