While digital textbooks are typically more affordable than new paper books, one analysis suggests that price alone might not be enough to sway customers toward digital when rental and used books are on the market.
The analysis, which was conducted by textbook price comparison site campusbooks.com, compared prices for 1,000 textbook titles across the site’s 12 partner textbook rental companies, 35 partner used book retailers and seven partner digital textbook creators. It found that for about 81% of these books, renting a paper version was the cheapest available option. Used paper book prices beat out rental fees about 11% of the time, and ebooks, which like rentals are usually sold for use during a 130- or 180-day period, had the most affordable price in about 8% of cases.
While the saved costs of physical manufacturing and shipping make price an advertised selling point for many etextbook retailers, a student who is making purchasing decisions based solely on cost will likely find a better deal elsewhere.
Campusbooks.com CEO Jeff Cohen says that prices across all book formats shift frequently and that etextbooks tend to become the cheapest option for a given title when used books are harder to find.
“There’s definitely not a clear winner of who is cheapest all the time,” Cohen says.
Used books get cheaper every time they are sold, and rental companies can keep prices even lower by purchasing used books to rent.
Meanwhile, to publishers’ delight, there is no equivalent rental market for digital books. This means that every time a student purchases a digital book, the publisher gets paid. But it also means that until the number of students choosing digital books starts to eat into the availability of used books, it’s unlikely that ebooks will be the cheapest option the majority of the time.
Photo courtesy of istockphoto, dlewis33
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Posted on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:18:09 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/J5zGhCnM--g/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/24/etextbooks-textbooks-rental/#comments
The analysis, which was conducted by textbook price comparison site campusbooks.com, compared prices for 1,000 textbook titles across the site’s 12 partner textbook rental companies, 35 partner used book retailers and seven partner digital textbook creators. It found that for about 81% of these books, renting a paper version was the cheapest available option. Used paper book prices beat out rental fees about 11% of the time, and ebooks, which like rentals are usually sold for use during a 130- or 180-day period, had the most affordable price in about 8% of cases.
While the saved costs of physical manufacturing and shipping make price an advertised selling point for many etextbook retailers, a student who is making purchasing decisions based solely on cost will likely find a better deal elsewhere.
Campusbooks.com CEO Jeff Cohen says that prices across all book formats shift frequently and that etextbooks tend to become the cheapest option for a given title when used books are harder to find.
“There’s definitely not a clear winner of who is cheapest all the time,” Cohen says.
Used books get cheaper every time they are sold, and rental companies can keep prices even lower by purchasing used books to rent.
Meanwhile, to publishers’ delight, there is no equivalent rental market for digital books. This means that every time a student purchases a digital book, the publisher gets paid. But it also means that until the number of students choosing digital books starts to eat into the availability of used books, it’s unlikely that ebooks will be the cheapest option the majority of the time.
Photo courtesy of istockphoto, dlewis33
More About: education, etextbooksFor more Media coverage:Follow Mashable Media on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Media channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:18:09 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/J5zGhCnM--g/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/24/etextbooks-textbooks-rental/#comments
