p2pnet - rss feed: Online textbooks — with a difference
p2pnet news | Products:- Textbooks can cost students a lot of money, but Flat World Knowledge believes it has the answer.
Deliver the books online.
“Our books might feel like your current book - for a minute,” says the company site, going on:
“They are written by leading experts, and are peer- reviewed, edited, and highly developed. They are supported by test banks, .ppt notes, instructor manuals, print desk copies, and knowledgeable service representatives. There the similarity ends.”
It does indeed. Because the texts are free.
“We don’t even require registration!” - says Flat World. “Students just enter the URL they’re given by their instructor and start reading. It’s that easy. No tricks. No popup ads. No “a premium subscription is needed for that”.
Not only but also, the free books go beyond standard print edition offerings with integrated audio, video, and interactive features and search capabilities, says the company.
OK. SO how does Flat World makes its money, then?
“We then turn around and sell things of value to that large market - more convenient ways to consume our free book (print, audio, PDF) and efficient ways to study (study aids),” it says, adding:
“Sure, we’ll make less money per student than the big guys. But that’s okay. We’l be selling to a lot more of them, and we’ll be doing it for a lot less money (thanks to technology like web-hosted services, XML, print-on-demand, and more).”
Now all we need is for the venal corporate movie and music ccompanies to realize students are customers, not criminals, and start wooing them instead of suying them.,
Slashdot it! . 
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April 24th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Win!
April 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I am genuinely impressed.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Epic win!
About the “big guys”: they may have secret agreements with universities or even professors. Professors love to bump edition numbers for no reason, so that second-hand books sold by senior students are obsoleted sooner. I am talking about subjects like mathematics, where a ten-year-old book would do as good as the new one, which has just problem numbers rearranged.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:35 am
doesn’t come out til 2009.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:40 am
That’s a new idea? The only thing preventing it previously was greedy profiteering over their hidden knowledge. I can’t see it changing much either
April 25th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I, for one, am hoping that this goes through. This would be beneficial to everyone. Children and adults, alike. I look forward to 2009! ’tis the season to be jolly!
April 27th, 2008 at 2:27 am
This is awesome.