I have been reading and commenting a lot lately about the free alternatives to commercial information products (e.g., newspapers, textbooks). My latest read is Curt Bonk’s “The world is open” (ironically a book I bought).
We have been attempting to get our publisher to consider a different model for some years without much luck. However, it does look like there is now some movement among commercial providers. I am guessing the hardware (e.g., Kindle) is available that will offer the providers some assurance their basic products will not be passed around.
I read today (ReadWriteWeb) that CourseSmart now offers content for the iPhone. I am familiar with CourseSmart as a provider associated with textbooks I have used and I own an iPod Touch (close enough) so I downloaded the app (the RWWeb article contains a link) and tried some of their demonstration materials.
A display from a psych textbook involving an entire page.
A display from a biology textbook zoomed to one column. This offers a better idea of how one might actually use the iPod to read.
The screen captures from the iPod are larger than actual size.
I find this interesting and a useful mobile tool, but I am not certainly I would be willing to read a thousand pages a semester (multiple books) in this format.
