Amazon Kindle Fails First College Test 256
Posted
by
kdawson
from the give-it-a-d dept.
from the give-it-a-d dept.
theodp writes "If Amazon hoped for honest feedback when it started testing the Kindle DX on college campuses last fall, writes Amy Martinez, it certainly got its wish. Students pulled no punches telling Amazon what they thought of its $489 e-reader. But if Amazon also hoped the Kindle DX would become the next iPhone or iPod on campuses, it failed its first test. At the University of Virginia, as many as 80% of MBA students who participated in Amazon's pilot program said they would not recommend the Kindle DX as a classroom study aid (though more than 90% liked it for pleasure reading). At Princeton and Reed, students complained they couldn't scribble notes in the margins, easily highlight passages, or fully appreciate color charts and graphics. 'The pilot programs are doing their job — getting us valuable feedback,' said Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener. Martinez notes that Reed, Seton Hall, and other colleges plan to test the iPad in the fall to see if it can do better."
Re:Odd choice (Score:4, Funny)
Well, according to several e-mails that made it to my spam trap, there seem to be many surefire ways to get a free iPad or Kindle. Seems all you have to do is sign up for some marketing promotions and surveys...
Re:Odd choice (Score:5, Funny)
"You don't read textbooks in the same linear way as a novel," said Roesner, 23, a graduate student in computer science and engineering.
Honestly, I tend to agree. Not having tried a Kindle myself, my opinion means little. However, I strongly suspect that I would encounter the same frustration that these people did when using it instead of textbooks.
With regard to business school, Futurama said it best:
All I want is to be a monkey of moderate intelligence who wears a suit... that's why I'm transferring to business school!
Re:Piracy solves another issue (Score:3, Funny)
I know - sell the DX with a stack of post-its! The students can write on the post-its, and stick them over the passages they want to highlight!
Dammit - now I'm sure Amazon will patent this, and nobody else will be able to use it!
Re:Odd choice (Score:3, Funny)
Disclaimer: I don't work for IREX, I'm only an happy owner of an iLiad.
It's been a long day, I thought you said iLaid. I have a revolutionary new product idea.
the dog is replaced (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Makes Sense (Score:3, Funny)
So they settled for user reports written in Powerpoint?
I don't think it is any better. in fact I think Crayon is a much better tool for reports than powerpoint.
Old-timer here. Oh... wait... (Score:5, Funny)
You could touch a book without smearing finger oil on a screen. There was no DRM; no one implied you were a criminal if you read someone else's book. If you wanted to have a copy of a page, you could photocopy it and write on the photocopy, actually write, with real ink.
I know this will sound amazing, but you didn't have to have a device to read a book! You could just read it. Books didn't have batteries; there was nothing to charge; there was no battery to go bad and carry back to Apple for an expensive replacement. You could read a book outdoors; you didn't need to worry about the weak display of an Apple LCD screen.
If you dropped a book, it would almost certainly not be damaged. There was no quirky, limited operating system that had to be updated. There was no file management. You just opened the book and started reading it.
There was no early adopter status, with people going around implying they were socially superior to you because they had a device. You didn't need to worry about new versions of a device that did a little more, but just a little, because there would be an even newer version a few months after that. Books never became obsolete because someone stopped supporting an old file format.
You didn't need electric power to read a book. You didn't need to worry about exploding batteries with their poisonous metals. There were no charge cords, or waiting for re-charging.
There were so many books that thieves usually didn't steal them.
You didn't have to pay the huge Jeff Bezos tax or the huge Steve Jobs tax; you didn't need to contribute to a billionaire only interested in having more billions.
Re:Piracy solves another issue (Score:5, Funny)
> How on Earth do you know it's all in their head?
Because that's where their eyes are.
Re:The ownership issues would be more important (Score:5, Funny)
What would be really funny is if someone bought the novel 1984 on Kindle and then Amazon came and forced an update that deleted it!
This is a downside? (Score:3, Funny)
students complained they couldn't scribble notes in the margins, easily highlight passages
Good. It's a book. Stop defacing it.
Bloody vandals.
Nothing worse than buying a second-hand textbook and finding out the fuckwit that owned it before you has destroyed it through inept, irrelevant and inaccurate highlighting and notes.
And no, buying new isn't an option when you're a student with all your income going on accommodation, food and condoms.