TheFrugalGourmet said:chitoan said:None of my books is available.

Those would be English books, right?

LMFAO!

nice post
when i was in college there were rumors professors have deals with publishers. I used to pay for those $150 new textbooks good for ONE semester. Then i got smart and say f it and bought older versions and made copies instead.

Gorillascientist said:I'm a professor.

Thanks for the information. So far, because of health care fields, it's made my kids more comfortable buying the most recent edition. But for fun one day we bought a non-medical book, the current edition and the most recent previous edition -- not one change that we could see except for the cover. I was told a while back also that it's the publishers that pretty much 'push' the frequent change-of-editions...

I think that renting is a viable option in certain situations and will certainly look into it in the future!

Gorillascientist said:Thisiswhaticanafford said:My feeling is that college is difficult enough that I want her to have every advantage; the cost of current editions is very cheap in comparison to the cost of walking through the door of the college.

I couldn't agree more We do something similar about finding ISBN #s ahead of time to get a jumpstart on used books online, etc. Our threshhold of supporting the college bookstore (feel a bit obligated due to scholarships she received) is approx. a $20 difference. It's a fun game, though, last semester her 'net' cost for buying from non-bookstore sources and what she got paid at buyback time was $40 for 3 textbooks! That being said, we were also lucky that all books were being used the following semester of course...

I do think the renting concept has merit for alot of people though.

After being burned by 80% drop after the release of a "New Edition" ( 3 pages changed ) The $190 Medical text book - My school would not buy it back- "Obsolete Edition" but they had no problem selling me a brand new one - the class the semester before mine was offered less than a Dime on the dollar for used. ( but they still sold the used ones that they did buy back for 80% of list ) My school also stickers the back of the books with their own SKU, and then they Shrink wrap all the books - if you remove the Shrink wrap- you can't return it - you have to wait till the end of the semester to sell it back or sell it online.

So I then started to either buy on line or from someone currently taking the class.

I now take all my notes on Computer or for math or some science, I scan the paper notes later. ( Evernote does a fantastic Job with OCR of handwriting. ) I have scanned in all my old handwritten notes and imported them to Evernote. ( It is nice that if their is long formula on the Overhead I can just turn off my flash and snap a photo. )

Technology is starting to Amaze me. I now rarely buy on line unless I have to.

Photocopying is a pain - and it can expensive ( unless you get free copies- but you have FAT notebook --

Better than Xeroxing - A decent 5MP Digital Camera + an Amazing program OmniPage Professional 16 with OCR from Digital Camera to a searchable PDF. One could use Picasa for Free, but no search. I have a 2 year Canon digital camera that I use.

I don't LUG a heavy backpack around anymore - I can carry all my books and notes on my Notebook - With Google Desktop and other indexing software I can find anything instantly. I carry a thin Timbuktu zippered sleeve that holds my power cord, my BT mouse and a few pens. It is about as big a textbook and weighs about the same.

Nothing unethical about it - Buy it new - take pictures of all the pages - scan to OCR - sell it Like new but used Text book online or to a friend. ( I am talking for personal use - I don't give away copies or share them - they are just a backup -

Better yet buy it used, sell it used. Cheaper yet - Check it out of the Library - Not like the Publisher was going to make money on it a second time around.

The Omnipage Professional 16 blows me away - I used to just take photos and use a Folder in Picasa and label the pages - and Zoom in to read ( I took photos at 4-5Mp each. The searchable PDF is even better.

It blows me away, how many classes I have taken that we hardly even opened the textbook, I took an elective class in Welding - caused my HS did'nt have a Shop class - The used textbooks were like new and I doubt that they were ever used or read. The were the cleanest and nicest used books I have ever seen.

At first I was shocked at the Price of Textbooks, Now I just get pissed off, they they can't even correct their mistakes and proofread it version to version - I have seen 3 editions all with the same typos and errors in the Formulas, and other mistakes. I guess that they do what ever it takes to turn a buck.

As well I think that we will see more and more of the Digital textbooks in the days ahead ( only it will be with a special education "Kindle like device" The Textbook publishers will follow in the footsteps of MicroSoft, with limited licenses and force our hand and elimante the Used textbook market.

So many trees, so little time!

How about scanning instead?
Also, If I have access to the e-book version of the textbook during the semester, I make "printouts" to OneNote and have kept the digital version for future reference.

Just my $0.02

SweetDreems19 said:I just buy the book, photocopy it, then send it back.

While I respect your opinion, I strongly disagree.

Sure there are levels of competence, but I submit that they apply to all demographics proportionatelly.
There is also a significant percentage of successful foreign graduates from American colleges.

ritanlt said:american professors are worse than lawyers or car mechanics...

so it is not surprize that all IT Engineers are from India

OrygunSunset said:After being burned by 80% drop after the release of a "New Edition" ( 3 pages changed ) The $190 Medical text book - My school would not buy it back- "Obsolete Edition" but they had no problem selling me a brand new one - the class the semester before mine was offered less than a Dime on the dollar for used. ( but they still sold the used ones that they did buy back for 80% of list ) My school also stickers the back of the books with their own SKU, and then they Shrink wrap all the books - if you remove the Shrink wrap- you can't return it - you have to wait till the end of the semester to sell it back or sell it online.

So I then started to either buy on line or from someone currently taking the class.

I now take all my notes on Computer or for math or some science, I scan the paper notes later. ( Evernote does a fantastic Job with OCR of handwriting. ) I have scanned in all my old handwritten notes and imported them to Evernote. ( It is nice that if their is long formula on the Overhead I can just turn off my flash and snap a photo. )

Technology is starting to Amaze me. I now rarely buy on line unless I have to.


Photocopying is a pain - and it can expensive ( unless you get free copies- but you have FAT notebook --

Better than Xeroxing - A decent 5MP Digital Camera + an Amazing program OmniPage Professional 16 with OCR from Digital Camera to a searchable PDF. One could use Picasa for Free, but no search. I have a 2 year Canon digital camera that I use.


I don't LUG a heavy backpack around anymore - I can carry all my books and notes on my Notebook - With Google Desktop and other indexing software I can find anything instantly. I carry a thin Timbuktu zippered sleeve that holds my power cord, my BT mouse and a few pens. It is about as big a textbook and weighs about the same.

Nothing unethical about it - Buy it new - take pictures of all the pages - scan to OCR - sell it Like new but used Text book online or to a friend. ( I am talking for personal use - I don't give away copies or share them - they are just a backup -

Better yet buy it used, sell it used. Cheaper yet - Check it out of the Library - Not like the Publisher was going to make money on it a second time around.

The Omnipage Professional 16 blows me away - I used to just take photos and use a Folder in Picasa and label the pages - and Zoom in to read ( I took photos at 4-5Mp each. The searchable PDF is even better.

It blows me away, how many classes I have taken that we hardly even opened the textbook, I took an elective class in Welding - caused my HS did'nt have a Shop class - The used textbooks were like new and I doubt that they were ever used or read. The were the cleanest and nicest used books I have ever seen.


At first I was shocked at the Price of Textbooks, Now I just get pissed off, they they can't even correct their mistakes and proofread it version to version - I have seen 3 editions all with the same typos and errors in the Formulas, and other mistakes. I guess that they do what ever it takes to turn a buck.

As well I think that we will see more and more of the Digital textbooks in the days ahead ( only it will be with a special education "Kindle like device" The Textbook publishers will follow in the footsteps of MicroSoft, with limited licenses and force our hand and elimante the Used textbook market.

im pretty sure all textbooks have copyrights on them so what your doing is illegal. maybe your doing this on books that aren't protected but i seriously doubt it. just like i can't back up a dvd or CD then sell the original, everything is usually ok until you are no longer have the original and reciept.

I appreciate the heads up, OP.
I have been sooooo frustrated by the cost of summer session textbooks that are not bought back because different books are used for fall classes. Until Kindle is full speed ahead, renting books could be just the ticket.

dodgeman007 said:
im pretty sure all textbooks have copyrights on them so what your doing is illegal. maybe your doing this on books that aren't protected but i seriously doubt it. just like i can't back up a dvd or CD then sell the original, everything is usually ok until you are no longer have the original and reciept.

First, from your post offering a free 5th Grade Grammar book I think that you should keep it. BTW it is spelled receipt vs "original and reciept."

The rule with an exception goes:

i before e
except after c
we live in a weird society.

I guess that it is a good thing that RIAA hasn't teemed up with the Textbook publishers of America, I sleep just fine at night, again I am not distributing to anyone, not even buddies. If the Textbook publishers made their money where is the damage? No damage, No liability. It would be different if I was selling, or seeding it as a Torrent. ( Which is something that I think we will see in the days ahead, as the OCR software gets even better and cheaper. )

A Study of Fair Use, the First-sale doctrine, theLimits and exceptions to copyright; exhaustion of rights,: the doctrine of exhaustion, is a concept in intellectual property law whereby an intellectual property owner will lose or "exhaust" certain rights after the first use of the subject matter which is the subject of intellectual property rights.


Part of the reason that we have 2nd hand book stores, why we can pay to rent video's (as opposed to buying them) why I can record copyrighted TV, movies, and music that is broadcast over the airwaves. Why we can also buy used CD's, DVD's, books, 2nd hand unused software from 2nd stores, e-bay, pawnshops, etc. To give you an example I can download and burn to CD some of my textbooks that are in Audio format from my local public library, I can checkout software as well from my local library and install it on my computer.

I have licensed software with a legal keys, of Microsoft Operating Systems (XP, Vista, NT4, Win 2000, Win2K3, DOS6 and other MS products; all legal for me to own and use on my personal computer, that I downloaded when I took one(1) computer course at my school - Through MSDN - but I can't sell them. or install more than one, on more than one computer.

Again this would be a whole different story if I was sharing it with others.

As well, if I buy an International edition that is shipped in from outside of the US then all bets are off as well. It changes the legal ground.