Barnes & Noble nook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Happy Sunday! Hope it’s been relaxing for you all. I am preparing to go back to school and back to work tomorrow, and I’m pretty excited for a couple reasons. First, I am a huge dork and love school, and my job at the library is totally boss.
But secondly, I’m going paperless this semester and have purchased all my textbooks in eBook formats!
I can’t say this was a conscious decision from the start. As a grad student still in WAY over my head in debt from my undergrad, I’m always looking to get away on the cheap. And actually, the eBook versions of my textbooks were WAY cheaper than the physical printed books, something that’s not always the case with fiction titles. According to my math, I probably saved myself about $50 on the four books I needed this semester.
I also went with whoever had the version of the book cheaper – and I have to say that although I love my Nook and Barnes & Noble has a special place in my heart, Amazon’s Kindle book prices were better for three out of the four. So I’ll be learning to use the Kindle for Mac software too this semester!
I’m excited to see how this goes. I’ve never bought an e-textbook before. In the cases where I did purchase my books for class, I always had physical pages to write on, highlight, dog-ear, and in some cases, resell at the end of the class. But it makes sense. I’m studying instructional technology and integration of digital media in education, so eBooks for my textbooks make sense in a way.
I’ll keep you updated on how this goes. I’m nervous that the eBooks will be difficult for me to actually complete my readings. Whenever I work on the computer, I tend to also be surfing the internet, reading Twitter feeds, checking Facebook, etc. I also occasionally get headaches from staring at the screen too long if it’s too bright.
But hey, at least I’m saving a couple bucks and it’ll be a great experience to talk about in seminar! Anyone else ever gone totally print-book-less for school or work? Any tips or suggestions?
Related articles
- Let’s talk about textbooks, baby! Online, rental, used – or at all? (alicieinwonderland.wordpress.com)
- Infographic: Who Reads eBooks? (the-digital-reader.com)
- 5 Ways to Avoid Buying Textbooks Spring Semester (collegefocus.com)
Writing My Next Chapter 
Hello! I am excited for you to go paperless. I have went paperless along time ago (although you still have those couple of teachers that insist you use actual paper and calls my tablets “computers”). I usually use Barnes and Nobel for my eBooks too and have always found then way cheaper. If you prefer Barnes and Nobel they also have a program called Nook Study which is definitely worth downloading. The program allows you to make your own notes and highlights in the text book and also allows you to print out typed notes of everything you highlighted. Its very useful! Hope you enjoy!
Oh cool! I didn’t know you could print your notes with nook study. That’s pretty awesome. Thanks for the tip!
I was never brave enough to go paperless. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Will do! Here’s hoping it goes well because I already spent the money for the ebooks! Buying the printed versions halfway through would be terrible.
I’ve never tried that, but it sounds cool, especially with those savings! Good luck! I’ll watch out for your updates on how everything goes. 🙂
Thanks for the well-wishes! I’m at that point where I’ll try just about anything to save a buck! Haha thanks for commenting.
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