College textbooks on Kindle = no brainer for brains
Princeton University is the latest Ivy League school to begin offering textbooks on the Amazon Kindle. This is a killer idea and use of the Kindle on so many fronts:
* Less weight for college students to lug around
* Students can buy books from just about anywhere, without having to wait on line. And the super ambitious can get a head start on semesters as soon as the syllabus for class is released
* Less worry about the book store running out of required texts (this happened to me several times during my college years, and it’s never fun)
* While there’s no word on pricing, I imagine it would be a great benefit to students to get a discount on Kindle purchases versus buying texts
* Buying digital saves trees, and environmentalism is especially important to young folk these days
* Kindle features are great for research, including ability to bookmark, take notes, and highlight
I almost wrote that Kindle features are perfect for research, but held back because quite frankly they’re pretty clunky at present. But I imagine future versions of the device will be much improved in these areas.
And perhaps the best part from Amazon’s perspective is that if they can lock in Kindle ownership and use with college students, they’ll have a great and self-perpetuating base of customers for years to come.
