Amazon last year launched its Kindle Pilot Program, in which it sold a number of Kindle DX readers to several universities at a 50 percent discount. Students were allowed to use them free of charge, but as it turns out, most college students aren’t yet ready to trade in their textbooks for Kindles.
At the University of Virginia, for example, about 80 percent of MBA students who participated in the program said they wouldn’t recommend the Kindle DX for classroom use, even though they enjoyed it for recreational reading. And at Princeton University and Reed College, students said they missed the ability to write in the margins, easily highlight passages, or view color charts and graphics, the Seattle Times reports.
“You don’t read textbooks in the same linear way as a novel,” said Roesner, a 23-year-old graduate student. “You have to flip back and forth between pages, an the Kindle is too slow for that. Also, the bookmarking function is buggy.”
The complaints haven’t fallen on deaf ears. Amazon last month announced software upgrades that enable Kindle users to sort books into collections and zoom PDF documents.
“The pilot programs are doing their job — getting us valuable feedback,” said spokesman Drew Herdener.
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Image Credit: Amazon
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Amazon’s Kindle Flunks Out of College
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