[apcrist]

Hi everyone! I'm getting a kindle for my birthday, and I decided against the DX (mostly because it's too big to fit in a purse!) I've been lurking around this forum and I've read a lot of hype about a textbook store for kindle DX. Do you guys think that these textbooks will also be readable on the kindle 2? I would give an arm and a leg not to have to lug a pile of textbooks around my enormous campus all day! Thanks for your thoughts

 

[Leslie]

Hi AP and welcome, glad to have you here...

I think there are a few issues which are unknown until the DX actually comes out and we find out what it can do. In particular, one question I would ask is will textbooks be offered in PDF format, esp. books with lots of charts and graphs? If so, they won't be supported natively on the K2 and would need to be converted...and might not convert well.

Texts in fields that are text-heavy (sociology, psychology, English) could work fine on the K2. But for the sciences and math, I think the DX is going to be a better option.

It will be interesting to actually see the DX this week and see what it offers. I can't wait.

L

 

[apcrist]

Good point about the PDF format, Leslie. It makes sense that that may be the format of choice for a lot of textbook makers. I'm psychology and pre-med....I doubt I'll give up hard copies of my science textbooks anytime soon, but hopefully the Kindle will be a good option for reading my psychology texts!

I'm wondering....has anyone read a book that includes illustrations throughout (i.e. a popular science book with diagrams)? How does changing the font size affect the size/positioning of the illustrations? This could provide good insight as to how a textbook might be formatted for a smaller kindle.

 

[BTackitt]

I downloaded a bunch of the free trial versions of the quick study guides from Mobilereference.com this weekend. I have a K1. I am going back to school to get my BSN and those darn books are SO heavy I don't wnt to take them anywhere.
http://mobilereference.com/HumanAnatomy/index.htm
was the first one I looked at, and the graphics were ok even in 4 color grayscale. so I found a *bundle* of 25 books/study guides and downloaded the sample versions there too. I can read all of the graphics, tell what they are supposed to be, and even though it IS SMALL I can read the periodic table when zoomed in and sideways across the screen. (but I do have very good eyesight- that one really is tiny)

 

[DavidSherwood]

I have bought several text books for my Kindle2. The charts included in them are indeed small but readable. I normally wear reading glasses and set by Kindle font size to 4. But when I read text books I take my classes off, put the Kindle up to my nose, and set the font size to 1 or 2. This way I don’t have to switch reading modes when going from  the text to the charts. I make use of Kindle’s search feature and make lots of bookmarks and notes so that I can find the topic again. (Paging thru the table of contents for a topic is too slow). All in all, I like having my text books on the Kindle2 rather than lug around large books.
I not sure what the DX will buy you except less page turning. Will they make the pictures bigger? More readable?
As to PDF format, I hope text books don’t stick to this format. To be a true eBook, the text and pictures need to be free flowing so that they can adjust to varying sizes.

 

[L.Canton]

I haven't actually looked into textbooks for my K2, but if they are available, I'm definitely going to need them in the near future. I can see them saving me at least a bit of money, and I've even considered picking up a DX eventually as well.