{"id":2339,"date":"2009-08-10T23:38:06","date_gmt":"2009-08-10T23:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningaloud.com\/blog\/?p=2339"},"modified":"2009-08-10T23:38:33","modified_gmt":"2009-08-10T23:38:33","slug":"commercial-response-to-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningaloud.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/10\/commercial-response-to-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial response to free"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> “The world is open” (ironically a book I bought).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I read today (ReadWriteWeb<\/a>) 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.<\/p>\n

\"psychexample\"<\/p>\n

A display from a psych textbook involving an entire page.<\/p>\n

\"biologyexample\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The screen captures from the iPod are larger than actual size.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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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, … Continue reading Commercial response to free<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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