Textbooks With EULAs

overshoot writes "We all knew it was coming, didn't we? Now Princeton University and nine others are introducing DRM'd textbooks. For a 33% discount, students get a 5-month node-locked e-book instead of all that glossy paper. Maybe Congress should just get it over with and change the law to allow EULAs on printed works?"

Comments

Stallman was right up to this point ...

[DoktorTomoe]

The Right to Read

Re:Stallman was right up to this point ...

[Ironsides]

Part of the problem is that, in the US, a lot of professors make serious cash by writing a textbook, producing a "new, improved version" every year (actually the old version with the questions rearranged a bit) and standardising on it for their course. This approach even locks out old versions of the textbook, let alone competing "open" textbooks.

The UK seems not to have this problem. This is one of the (comparatively few) areas where the USA would benefit from taking our lead.

Actually, there are many proffessors in the USA who will stick with one book and keep requiring the exact same version (saves on having to re-write course notes and such). This was in the Engineering courses, though.

From experience, it has been the freshmen level "101" courses that this occurs in (chem 101, bio 101, phy 101) and some various writing courses. I did not come across any upper level engineering courses where the books changed all that often. In one case, a professor was going back to an older version because she like it better.

So, it's not all the courses that have this, just the ones where the used market gets flooded every year. You know, those classes that everybody has to take where you're probably not ever going to use the books again unless you are majoring in the subject.

So much for selling used books

[jbeaupre]

Selling old books was a nice source of cash for me at the end of each semester. Buying used books at the start saved a lot too. I'm not sure a 33% discount will be enough.

Re:So much for selling used books

[femtoguy]

As a professor, I am seeing a new, and very insidious development. We just went through a pitch from a major publisher for a book that we produce for a local class. We had been self-publishing, and our cost was $25 per book. They were willing to do the editing and publishing for us, and we were ready to talk about developing written materials for thei book, but all that they wanted to talk about was on-line content. When we pushed, it turns out that their new thing is to twist arms to get required web-delivered content in all of their books. So now when you buy a book, you get a code that is valid for one semester.

If this works, they won't care if you sell it used, because the web code is no longer valid, so the book is useless, unless you buy a new code for $15. They get their cut no matter what. If you fail the course, and have to re-take the class, you owe them another $15. If you give it to your younger brother, $15. They always get their cut.

Their web content often includes web-supported and web-submitted homework and quizzes so if faculty buy in, students will have no choice but to pay. Kind of sad.

Frist Post? And What a DUMB idea

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

Paying 2/3 retail for a book you can't mark in, underline, or ceremonially BURN after the class is over?

not Princeton, only the bookstore

[edfelten]

For the record, Princeton University has not signed on to this program. Only the bookstore is involved, and it is not affiliated with the university.

EULAs on books

[overshoot]

They allow EULAs on shrink-wrapped software and shrink-wrapped DVDs already, what makes books any different?

I can't wait. The reason is that the US Federal courts have a long body of case law on the "first sale" doctrine. A publisher tried to put the equivalent of a EULA on a book back in the 19th century and got shot down, big time.

If someone makes the argument in court that they should be able to have a EULA on a book because they manifestly can on an e-book and there's no fundamental difference, the court is either going to have to twist itself into at least two additional dimensions to avoid either shooting down EULAs on e-books or overturning more than a century of fundamental copyright law.

Re:Five months?

[Freexe]

Sounds to me like a really well thought out idea.

1. Arrive at uni and buy E-books (profit)
2. Months in the course starts
3. Books 'run-out'
4. Re-buy book. (profit)
5. Course finishs
6. Book run-out again
7. Exam timetables come through
8. Start revising
9. have to buy books again (profit)

a bit of a change to the normal list, but 3 times the profit!

Re:Ah, the joys of copy-protection...

[TripMaster Monkey]

I believe this is the case youre referring to.

And yes, ebooks have been cracked, and will be again. Particularly when you foist them upon a young, rebellious, smarter than average, and technologically savvy demographic group.

This bright idea is doomed to failure, and I for one am going to enjoy watching it go down in flames.

Or...

[imstanny]

1. Books are downloaded. 2. Digital screen shots of photos are taken. 3. Digital screen shots converted to Word document using Tablet text recognition software. 4. Free text books. Not saying that's what should happen, but I wouldn't be suprised if it did.

Re:And for a dollar more

[pegr]

Or buy from O'reilly... Their e-books are open format, no DRM, no proprietary nonsense, and even come with a cross-platform java doohickey to facilitate searching...

So how is it that they can do it without worrying about copying while no one else can? Maybe if you treat your customer with respect, they will return the favor?

I understand that they don't do textbooks. But you could do a whole lot worse for textbooks than O'reilly.

Re:Change computer clock?

[Anonymous Coward]

if you aren't already part of the hacker underground, you should really look into making your way in. talent like yours shouldn't be wasted.

Re:Five months?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's even worse than that. While the books won't 'expire' mid-semester, many publishers plan to tie the course's evaluation software to these e-books. This will effectively kill the used book market, which is a big threat to publishers right now, especially now that Amazon and Borders have jumped into the used book trade.

Here's how it works: the professor gets the new course book every year, possibly for free. With that book comes software that allows a teacher to easily post quizzes online, something similar to Blackboard. In order for a student to use this, they have to have this year's book/software combo, otherwise they can't take the test. There are other schemes floating around out there, too, like students will take tests in-class by answering questions on a projector screen using an RF/IR "clicker".

How do I know this? I work for a textbook publisher and our president informed us that this is the way the entire textbook industry is going. Our company is all in a tizzy right now about DRM as well. They simultaneously see digital books as a threat and a potential boon.

Re:Five months?

[ArsenneLupin]

your plan is no different than a student who currently:
...
holds up liquor store

Except that the punishment for holding up a liquor store is probably less than that for violating a cheesy DRM scheme. And chances of getting parole are probably better too!