It’s the time of year that college students start to think about laptops and school supplies and textbooks, whether they want to or not. Unfortunately, text books are something that most students cannot avoid. They are something that students need to be thinking about because they can cost you an arm and a leg, and once you shell out all the money for them, the bookstore doesn’t want to give you two cents for them when you try to sell them back after you are done with the classes. Well, this year, Amazon is offering you a new way to deal with the text book dilemma. On Monday, Amazon unveiled its new Kindle Textbook Rental service. It allows students to rent textbooks via their Kindle or Kindle apps for up to a year.
One of the great things about the new service is that Amazon promises that they can save students up to 80 percent. "Students tell us that they enjoy the low prices we offer on new and used print textbooks. Now we're excited to offer students an option to rent Kindle textbooks and only pay for the time they need—with savings up to 80 percent off the print list price on a 30-day rental," Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement.
Customers will be able to rent textbooks for as little as 30 days or as many as 360. It all depends on how long the student needs the textbook. They will be able to increase their rental period in one-day increments or have the option to even buy the book if they wish. Amazon made sure to mention that they will make sure to save all of the notes that individual users make in the margins, even after the rental has expired.
"Normally, when you sell your print textbook at the end of the semester, you lose all the margin notes and highlights you made as you were studying," Limp said. "We're extending our Whispersync technology so that you get to keep and access all of your notes and highlighted content in the Amazon Cloud, available anytime, anywhere—even after a rental expires. If you choose to rent again or buy at a later time, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."
Amazon also mentioned that users will be able to access all of their rented textbooks across devices. Say you start reading a book on your Kindle, you will be able to pick up wherever you leave off via your Kindle smartphone app whenever you want.
According to Amazon, tens of thousands of textbooks will be ready and available for the 2011 school year. A few publishers that will be included are John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. Students will really be able to enjoy great savings with this new service. For example, to buy an intermediate level accounting book on the Kindle, it will cost you about $110, but to rent it, you will put out less than $40. An organic chemistry book goes for about $100 when you buy it, but when you rent it, it is closer to around $40. That is some serious savings!
In July, 2010 Borders unveiled an online textbook market similar to Amazon’s service, and in August, Barnes and Noble also announced a Web-based textbook rental service. It’s good that Amazon is now up to speed. I think that the new service is bound to be a success.
One of the great things about the new service is that Amazon promises that they can save students up to 80 percent. "Students tell us that they enjoy the low prices we offer on new and used print textbooks. Now we're excited to offer students an option to rent Kindle textbooks and only pay for the time they need—with savings up to 80 percent off the print list price on a 30-day rental," Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement.
Customers will be able to rent textbooks for as little as 30 days or as many as 360. It all depends on how long the student needs the textbook. They will be able to increase their rental period in one-day increments or have the option to even buy the book if they wish. Amazon made sure to mention that they will make sure to save all of the notes that individual users make in the margins, even after the rental has expired.
"Normally, when you sell your print textbook at the end of the semester, you lose all the margin notes and highlights you made as you were studying," Limp said. "We're extending our Whispersync technology so that you get to keep and access all of your notes and highlighted content in the Amazon Cloud, available anytime, anywhere—even after a rental expires. If you choose to rent again or buy at a later time, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."
Amazon also mentioned that users will be able to access all of their rented textbooks across devices. Say you start reading a book on your Kindle, you will be able to pick up wherever you leave off via your Kindle smartphone app whenever you want.
According to Amazon, tens of thousands of textbooks will be ready and available for the 2011 school year. A few publishers that will be included are John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. Students will really be able to enjoy great savings with this new service. For example, to buy an intermediate level accounting book on the Kindle, it will cost you about $110, but to rent it, you will put out less than $40. An organic chemistry book goes for about $100 when you buy it, but when you rent it, it is closer to around $40. That is some serious savings!
In July, 2010 Borders unveiled an online textbook market similar to Amazon’s service, and in August, Barnes and Noble also announced a Web-based textbook rental service. It’s good that Amazon is now up to speed. I think that the new service is bound to be a success.
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