The article “Court to hear Google’s challenge to Class-Action lawsuit on book scanning” it makes one wonder about the future of the publishing industry and the way the technology world is taking over print media.
The high prices of textbooks come as no surprise to a college or grad school student (well, maybe to an EMBA student). Companies such as Google have played a hand in seeking better ways at gaining access towards books on the cheap, even free sometimes. It appears that with the high uptake of eReaders such as the Nook, Kindle, Kindle Fire and other tablets, where reading material is readily available without the bulk of paperbacks, hard covers and textbooks--that books may be doomed in the future.
Perhaps textbook publishing companies keep their prices high since they realize textbooks are in demand, especially for students who need them for classes. But students tend to find ways to curtail the publishing industries’ sneaky ways. Students know that they can easily find cheaper copies online through popular retailers like Amazon or eBay.
Many students now buy international versions of textbooks (normally $200 in America can be as cheap as $50 in Thailand). Some may ask the legality of the purchase, but most say it is perfectly legal, the only difference between the international edition is that they possess different cover illustrations and a different ISBN number.
The truth is, people will always try to find a way to escape new textbook prices. Students understand that the publishing industry needs to make their money too, but when you are a broke college or grad student, you will do what it takes to save the extra money.
Books are easily available through torrents as well, although downloading illegally is frowned upon, it is a just another popular method of getting your textbooks for classes for free. Although textbooks are not entirely free on eReaders and Google, there are places online where they allow you to sample parts of the book or sometimes the entire book for a limited amount of time. Given student's cramming habits, this might hold them over in a bind.
So while Google is facing this law suit because of supposed copyright violations, everyone else is also violating the rules by downloading torrents, taking mobile photos of textbook pages online, etc. It was said in the article that the Authors Guild and other parties had come to an agreement to sue for $125 million against Google for copyright violations, however this notion was rejected by a judge in 2011, perhaps the judge too, agrees that something about the publishing industries practices need to change. Until then, we can only expect people to keep getting more and more creative when it comes to the ways they obtain their books for classes.
Article link:http://mediadecoder.
Article link:http://mediadecoder.
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