Prototype Rollable Paper-like Display Ready Early

freitasm writes "A few months ago Philips promised a rollable, paper-like display in two years, but it only took them a few months to have a prototype ready. From the article: 'The Readius is the world's first prototype of a functional electronic-document reader that can unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself. With four gray levels, the monochrome, 5-inch QVGA (320 pixels x 240 pixels) display provides paper-like viewing with a high contrast ratio. Once the user has finished reading, the display can be rolled back into the pocket-size (100 mm x 60 mm x 20 mm) device.'"

Comments

need higher resolution and more gray level

[yagu]

From the article: With four gray levels, the monochrome, 5-inch QVGA (320 pixels x 240 pixels) display provides paper-like viewing comfort with a high contrast ratio for reading-intensive applications, including text, graphics, and electronic maps.

This is the type of screen resolution for my Digital Reader, the resolution that made me send it back the day I got it. There's nothing paper-like about reading dot-matrix like resolutions. The eye doesn't adapt but instead becomes increasingly fatigued.

This technology may have some application for computer-like applications. I was hoping for e-books. This screen resolution won't cut that....

Re:need higher resolution and more gray level

[mughi]

This is the type of screen resolution for my Digital Reader, the resolution that made me send it back the day I got it. There's nothing paper-like about reading dot-matrix like resolutions. The eye doesn't adapt but instead becomes increasingly fatigued.

This technology may have some application for computer-like applications. I was hoping for e-books. This screen resolution won't cut that....

It all depends on the specifics of the device. I'ved used a Handspring Prism with a resolution of only 160x160 for years for an ebook reader, and it's great. I've gone through quite a few, especially from Baen

It ends up with a column width around that of an article in a newspaper or magazine, and is quite readable. Even when only using a limited number of colors (default fonts are only 1-bit) ti works well. I think much of it is due to having a white background. So the reflective properties and contrast of the display itself could make a huge difference.

Re:need higher resolution and more gray level

[Angst Badger]

Forget the resolution, look at the picture -- this stuff is much greyer than even newsprint. There's a reason real paper is white and so much money and effort goes into bleaching wood pulp to make it that way: the contrast makes it easier to read and reduces eyestrain.

Re:need higher resolution and more gray level

[jcl5m]

This comment and the parent comment frustrate me. They are short-sighted criticisms of a fundamentally new technology. I've held samples of this technology in my hand, and its potential is staggering. Sure, the current prototypes are a bit crude in terms of contrast and resolution, but these are engineering issues that will go away with time and more R&D money.

The two key features that make this a revolutionary new display technology is that it is thin and flexible (and can be manufactured and processed as giant sheets) and that it is bi-stable, meaning once you set the image it takes no power to retain that image. These two features are unlike any other display technology we have today, and unltimately will define the applications it is appropriate for. This really does have the potential to radically change periodical print media, personal printing, and poster/billboard advertising.

In the future, I would encourage you to learn a little bit more about a new technology before saying it sucks.

Re:need higher resolution and more gray level

[Afrosheen]

If I were to bet on a winner in the race for flexible displays, I'd put my money on Fujitsu. Just a month or so ago they had an article on their prototype color (!) roll-up display that looked much better. It was also bi-stable. I'll take two when they're ready. :)

Re:need higher resolution and more gray level

[DrKyle]

If you look at this picture the display actually looks quite readable with quite a few lines of text. I imagine in a few years they will double the pixels, increase the contrast and use font smoothing to make it all the better.

And I too have read ebooks on a smaller 320x240 display and found it easy enough to keep using 5 hours+ in a row during reading sessions.

Re:need higher resolution and more gray level

[gabuzo]

Well you're partly right however this is only a consequence on the press release. I'm sorry but 320x200 on a 5 inch screen is really far from "paper-like" viewing. Laser printing got a par with classical printing when it reached 600dpi. So I doubt you can get "paper-like" without at least 300dpi and a really high contrast.

Also interesting for the thin, flexible and "no need to maintain power" part, the displayed prototype on have 80dpi resolution and AFAIK a really poor constrast. So I don't want to bash new technology but the step need to go from the prototype to actual paper-like display if really beyond engineering issues.

Ready for primetime?

[gbulmash]

Cool prototype and proof of concept, but is it ready for primetime with the specs? Four levels of gray are good for text, but poor for B&W photos and certain types of graphs. I'm not trying to denigrate it as an achievement, but as a product... I have some issues with it. Until it can do more shades and possibly a higher resolution, would it be more than a status gadget?

- Greg

Re:Ready for primetime?

[timeOday]

Since it's only a prototype and not a product, and since they still have most of the two years until product release left, I'm guessing Philips does not see it as ready for primetime.

I'm really excited about reflective (vs emissive, like color LCD) displays though. Computers just won't work well outside dimly lit offices until reflective displays are practical. Think about a large-screen TV with NO brightness issues; you want it brighter, just shine a lamp on it (like a painting).

Re:Ready for primetime?

[NoGuffCheck]

Until it can do more shades and possibly a higher resolution, would it be more than a status gadget?

you mean like the iPod?

Re:Ready for primetime?

[agent0range_]

"Polymer Vision does not intend to commercialize this concept as a product in the market. Instead, it is demonstrating the fitness of its rollable displays for use in future mobile devices."
It's a good start. They said they'd have a prototype in 2 years, it took a few months... but it's nothing more than a proof of concept.

Re:Ready for primetime?

[mabinogi]

Are there really so many people that don't know what a prototype is?

A prototype isn't "Well, it's got a couple of bugs, but otherwise it's ready".

A prototype is "if we cobble together these bits and pieces, you can get a general idea of what it might possibly look like once we've actually developed it"

Re:Ready for primetime?

[YeeHaW_Jelte]

A prototype isn't "Well, it's got a couple of bugs, but otherwise it's ready". That's a product, isn't it?

Oh oh!

[saskboy]

This is going to completely ruin the blonde joke involving computer screens and white out!

Re:Oh oh!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is going to completely ruin the blonde joke involving computer screens and white out!

Yeah but it will introduce a new joke about the blonde wiping her ass with her monitor.

Give it some time.

[CyricZ]

There was a time when the best personal computers had screens of that quality. But over time the technology develops, and things will improve. While not perfect, I would hardly suggest that this technology is useless. It is merely a stepping stone to far greater achievements.

Re:Give it some time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Zig-Zag had this years ago

Re:Give it some time.

[QuantumG]

Yes, but the difference is that producers of four greyscale monitors actually sold units which gave them money to do development to produce more capable monitors. These guys, on the other hand, are likely going to not bother trying to get sales until they have a 256 greyscale display and then they'll charge too much for it to try to make up their development costs and the technology will fade into obscurity.

Re:Give it some time.

[Com2Kid]

Supply and demand.

Well mostly just that you can sell suckers (most buyers) a low rez 17" LCD screen and they don't know the difference.

Heck look at what prices 15" LCD TVs go for! You can get a 15" LCD Monitor for less.

And a computer with a TV tuner!

Re:Give it some time.

[Threni]

> Possibibly. It's what happens to lots of Philips' ideas.
> CD-I... what?

Yeah, and CDs. CD players are just too expensive. They'll never catch on.

Re:Give it some time.

[Vesperi]

Hey, I used to work for what was left of the CD-i wing of Philips - pmpro. It got spun off and we took all the CD-I hardware and titles still in stock. We we're still doing CD-I title development work up until 2000. At that point times got tough and I had to find other work.

Basicaly DVD functions on normal CD-Rom media.

How tough is it?

[mashade]

This looks like a cool new technology, but how useful can it be? I'm wondering how durable the 'film screen' is. Can I accidentally rip it, pulling it out of a pocket? I'm interested to see prototypes in other such designs, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how useful something like this may be.

Re:How tough is it?

[OzRoy]

From the picture it seems to just give devices the ability to expand the screen out so you can have a very portable device with a large screen.

So think of a mobile phone sized device that can expand out to screen size of a PSP (or something like that). Then give that screen touch pad or stylus abilities, and a powerful CPU and you have an ultimate generic portable PC with game, mp3 and organiser abilities.

Re:How tough is it?

[aussie_a]

You can easily rip paper pulling it out of your pocket.

Will it have a paper-like price-tag (bumped up slightly for it's more durable state)? If yes, great. Otherwise it being fragile is a real concern. Now I'm by no means rough with my expensive gadgets, but if it's too flimsy when unrolling it, it's usefulness is decreased dramatically.

Also, how easy will it be to keep this thing open? And do you really need both hands? Reading something so small two handed can be annoying (please leave the jokes for another time). You need a good justifiable reason for needing both hands with something this small (such as with a PSP where both hands are doing something), and "keeping it open" doesn't seem a very good one (in my opinion). This should be a design issue that's worked on before it's released if this product is going to be useful.

Big version of the image in the article...

[mrchaotica]

...here , and other images here.

omg...

[EtherealStrife]

Earth: Final Conflict, anyone?

E:FC MCI "Global"

Yet another case of companies ripping off scifi inventions. The only difference is the EFC ones were badged MCI. And of course, the Philips ones are functional. :)

That having been said, I can't wait to pick one up!

Re:omg...

[raitchison]

That was the first thing I was thinking too! Can't wait to pick one of these up in the sto'or.

Seriously though, most of the rest of the global technology already exists, essentiall it's a video/camera phone with the roll-up display. Of course the real time video phone technology as well as the truly global (& orbital) range are a long ways off practicality wise.

It's definitely reasonable to expect a device very similar to the EFC Global within our lifetimes.

Re:omg...

[Moridineas]

I wonder when I can get one from the sto'or?

press release from polymervision

[maroonhat]

a press release from the screen's manufacturer can be found here:
http://www.polymervision.com/New-Center/Press-Rele ases/Article-14693.html

This will revolutionize schools

[Crimsane]

Now, instead of finding little jimmy reading a penthouse stuffed in between pages of his math textbook, we will catch him salavating to Debbie Does Dallas.

Now thats progress.

Re:This will revolutionize schools

[CyricZ]

Had Jimmy lived in a society that wasn't so fucking stuck up about the very natural concept of sexual relationships, then he wouldn't have to be whacking his peter to pornography in his arithmetics class.

Re:This will revolutionize schools

[Jeremi]

You'd prefer to live in a society where it's normal for people to whack off in math class?

Better watch where you put your textbooks....

Re:This will revolutionize schools

[Moofie]

Whaaa...?

Where are these societies where people aren't interested in pictures of other, naked people? I think such a society would be very dull. And short-lived.

Red Planet

[gkozlyk]

Now all we need is a computer device like the ones they used in the movie 'Red Planet'.

Applications!

[Dr Tom Danger]

*$2,000 Paper! *Finally I can code and send my source via bottle while stranded on a tropical island. *"Only true hax0rs send their pc's by mail TUBE." *Overhead projectors = the obsolete? *One more extraneous piece of equipment I can buy, not buy the extended warranty on, and break? Sounds hot, I'll take one.

The Ultimate PDA

[KrackHouse]

PDAs leave an unsightly bulge in my pants. If I could install Skype on something like that and use it as a cellphone when rolled up - I'd have everything I'd ever need in a communications device - for reals.

Great military potential

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello active camoflage.

Re:Great military potential

[taniwha]

well provided you're trying to hide on a chessboard, or around dice - you might have to wait for them to do color first ....

E-Ink

[foniksonik]

Furtherdown in the article it mentions very blithely that the technology powering it comes from none other than E-Ink which explains the quicker than expected turn around. It's Phillips branded and integrated but the tech that makes it work is E-Ink Corp's.

Check out their site to see the roadmap... we should be seeing much improved versions of this gadget very soon.

Re:E-Ink

[Bender_]

It's Phillips branded and integrated but the tech that makes it work is E-Ink Corp's.

That is not true. Each display has a frontplane (the display mechanism) and a backplane (the transistors that control it).

As far as I understand it, only the front plane is by e-Ink. The back plane was apparently entirely developed by polymer vision.

An interesting fact is, that it is based on organic electronics. (check out the tech section). If they manage to bring this display to market, it will probably be the first commercial application of organic electronic.

Re:E-Ink

[payndz]

it will probably be the first commercial application of organic electronic

Shadow, or Vorlon?

Re:Looks good...

[Virak]

How about Linux? Now whenever a slashdotter asks, you can truthfully say "Yes, Linux *does* run on my porno mag!".

That's Great but...

[Ride Jib]

Can it run Linux? But on a serious note, my school (www.clemson.edu) has been working on this same project for a couple years now. I can't find any information on it at the moment, but all the commercials promoting the school have this project in it.

Only a few month?

[Bender_]

few months ago Philips promised a rollable, paper-like display in two years, but it only took them a few months..

The new thing is the reader. Functional prototypes of the displays have been presented way earlier, as obvious from many older articles on slashdot. The displays have been under development for at least five years. Check out the publications from the polymervision website:

  H. E. A. Huitema, G. H. Gelinck, J. B. P. H. van der Putten, K. E. Kuijk, C. M. Hart, E. Cantatore, P. T. Herwig, A. J. J. M. van Breemen, D. M. de Leeuw, Plastic transistors in active-matrix displays, Nature 2001, 414, 599.

G. H. Gelinck, T. C. T. Geuns, D. M. de Leeuw,High-performance all-polymer integrated circuits, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2000, 77, 1487-1489.

C. J. Drury, C. M. J. Mutsaerts, C. M. Hart, M. Matters, D. M. de Leeuw, Low-cost all-polymer integrated circuits., Appl. Phys. Lett. 1998, 73, 108-110.

Re:Looks good...

[Alystair]

Impossible, MS's technology isn't compatible with this device, how could you possibly display the BSOD in grayscale!

Digital CAD Scrolls?

[DigiShaman]

Title says it all ;) Just imagine a scroll with one rod containing the logic and the other battery power. Pull them apart and unroll a huge electronic "blue print" or other architecture drawings...complete with zoom and 3D functions too.

Buttons on the top

[Dan East]

I read ebooks daily on my 240x320 Pocket PC (I use it landscape for reading at 320x240, just like in the article photo). I seldom hold the device in one hand, as they indicate. The most comfortable method for me, allowing for reading for long periods of time, is to use both hands and "encircle" the device with my fingers. If you touch your index finger-tips together, as well as your thumb-tips, forming a rectangle that would encircle the device, you'll see what I mean.

My Pocket PC (Asus a716) has buttons on the top (when held landscape) that I can push with either index finger.

The main problem I see with this prototype is they force you to hold the device with your left hand in a specific position to operate the buttons. Hopefully an engineer will have the foresight to put multiple sets of page up / down buttons on the device so it can be utilized in different ways.

Dan East

Flat speakers

[Anonymous Coward]

If these displays are combined with flat bendable speakers and the economics of scale, we could have a whole new era of interactive user interfaces.

Re:Looks good...

[Anonymous Cowterd]

that would suck. command line on a piece of paper? you would need to plug in your paper keyboard because paper kde would be just awful (not to mention you'd need a paper mouse to do anything useful). also, linux would only be (partially) useful if you plugged your paper computer into a network to download modules and dependancies. like i said, CE would own

Here's a better image

[elronxenu]

Early Prototype - note some burn-in and also edge distortion. I'm looking forward to seeing a more advanced version soon!

Nattering Nabobs of Negativity

[Continental]

Christ, if the moon was made of cheese you people would complain that it wasn't Brie de Meaux. This is the first step to e-paper! Any tech that gets us closer to a more interesting future I'm all in favor of. The first car didn't go 120 and have heated seats. The first e-paper won't be hi-def and touch sensitive. Or whatever else you're complaining about.

Re:Nattering Nabobs of Negativity

[CamonZ]

i agree with you, i'll still wait for more advanced models to begin considering as a viable business solution, but as i see it there are a lot of possibilities(for us IT guys), getting your paper every day, with hourly updates, better screens for visualizing telemetry data, a whole new generation of PDA's. i think these screens are something cool

Re:Nattering Nabobs of Negativity

[gcauthon]

The first car wasn't trying to replace something that went 120mph with heated seats, was it? Wasn't it replacing a horse? E-paper is attempting to replace paper so there's nothing wrong with expecting it to be as easy to read as real printed paper. Otherwise, what's the point?

Re:Looks good...

[Virak]

First of all, I don't use KDE, I use GNOME. Secondly, I guess you're right; it'd be *completely* insane to put text on paper! And finally, I don't think anyone is stupid enough to try to run a piece of paper as a fully featured PC.

thankfully...

[KillShill]

they won't cripple such a useful invention in order to please the copyright cartel?

right? right...?

Mod Parent Up

[Anti-Trend]

Parent is right, this technology is astounding and it's only in the prototype phase for crying out loud. Will the technology improve in the future? Almost certainly. Does it have useful implications right now in its current form? Absolutely. I wouldn't be incredibly surprised if paper displays become the successor to plasma (when/if plasma becomes more mainstream), but isn't it a bit unfair to expect something to be technologically perfected right out of the starting gate?

-AT

Re:Looks good...

[belphegore]

The device contains a Gumstix, so although the pictures of the screen appear to have Windows-like icons on them, I'm guessing those are actually just static images dumped from some other device, and just being displayed under linux on this screen. While working on the screen and hardware integration, I don't think Philips will have also had time to port WinCE to the gumstix.

best use for this:

[OwlofCreamCheese]

wallpaper

Re: /. Poker

[Titus B. Otch]

I call your bullshit and raise you jealousy.

Very slow response time of 0.5 - 1 s

[Bushcat]

From http://www.polymervision.com/Technology/CurrentSpe cifications/Index.html, it seems the response time is 0.5 - 1 s with a reflectance of 35 - 40% and a contrast ratio of 10:1. Even given it's a first generation product, it's going to look a bit murky.

Obligatory stolen joke from last time round

[Anonymous Coward]

I couldn't find the post by the original author from a couple of years ago when these displays were first mentioned on slashdot.

So its a porno and a tissue? Convenient.

Gripe Gripe Gripe

[Anonymous Coward]

Whats with some of you people? You're all technically competent, probably more so than I. Yet when reading your comments, it's clear you're not looking beyond even today. Look at some of these gripes...

"There's nothing paper-like about reading dot-matrix like resolutions."

"this stuff is much greyer than even newsprint. There's a reason real paper is white"

"Cool prototype and proof of concept, but is it ready for primetime with the specs?"

Of course it isn't! Thats why it's a prototype!! It'll get brighter and more... erm... contrastier... and the resolution will increase. It's not like they expect you to buy and use one today.

Re:Gripe Gripe Gripe

[Anonymous Coward]

You're all technically competent

Er, no we're not, some of us are morons, thankyou very much.

Re:Gripe Gripe Gripe

[FlynnMP3]

"You're all technically competent..."

Better yet, imagine /. contributors as pimply faced pubescent hormonally challenged ADD strung out teenagers that have nothing better to do than to offer their viewpoint of how much things suck. Furthermore, imagine the moderators as 1 step up from that, barely able to look above the /. party line or groupthink.

Heck, I know that is a gross over simplification and stereotype. I look at it this way, imagine bottom of the barrel and when something better comes along, you'll be pleasantly surprised. :)

On topic, this tech is incredibly cool and the fact that it is in a prototype product makes it even cooler. I'm anxious to see how fast this tech advances now that some core problem have been figured out.

-FlynnMP3

Don't be so short-sighted

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been saying since high school (17 years) that we need this technology. I don't think it matter what the resolution is... If you can put a dynamic image on something as flexible and portable as paper, it's worth it.

Consider the possibilities. What does the average person do when they create a document on computer / receive an important e-mail they want to read later / download a manual for a product that they need to view at a different location? They print it. Paper is ultimately versatile because of its portability. A tablet PC just doesn't cut it when you need to slide your chair a few cubicles down to share an idea or present some documentation. Forget a pocket PC - average paper is 8.5x11" for a reason.

With electronic paper, you simply "print" to the medium and take it with you to wherever - the boss's office, home, a meeting room, the bathroom... Doesn't matter. And because it is electronic, the possibilities are almost endless for how you can renew the data it displays. No more having to collect your hard copy from a printer. The "paper" is just like a PDA, with bluetooth or WiFi, and with touch-screen technology you can even update the image from the device itself. It's also cheaper than a PDA (after mass production), so you can give it away without worrying about where your life-in-a-box went for five minutes.

IMHO, the sooner this becomes an actual product, the better, even if it looks like a bit worse than newsprint.

And, as other have said here, this tech will only get better. The medium that is being used is by E Ink, which already provides superior resolution (most likely, the given res was a limitation of the controlling tech, not the medium). Next comes colour. Come on! Persistent, highly visible dynamic image generation on flexible material? This is the arguably the main reason why laptops/tablets/PDAs exist at all.

5" at 320x240 is pretty good, no?

[eyal0]

My LCD screen here at work is 20" on diagonal, and running a resolution of 1280x1024. Scaled down to 5 inches, that almost exactly 320x240. Sounds like the QVGA screen isn't low resolution, just small in size. Which makes sense, because the technology is surely very expensive now and the market that they're looking for now is PDAs, not laptops.

Plus, there's no doubt that color, bigger screens, and higher resolutions are on the way.

If they can mass produce it ...

[TeXMaster]

It depends on application. If you had read the article, you'd have seen that they do not intend to market the thing directly, but rather

the Readius was created in order to demonstrate the viability of the rollable-display concept in mobile applications and to gain customer feedback at the IFA 2005.

There are things that could benefit from this kind of advancement, even at the current state of things: GPS devices, for example, and even cell phones: even though these days we're used to colorful thingies which can do everything but guarantee you can make phone calls, there some of us (*raises hand*) which want nothing more than the ability to make phone calls and write and read SMS. The ability to do it on a wider screen extensible on purpose would be an extremely nice thing. Think about a one- or two-lines display that can roll up to enclose an entire SMS or addressbook without the need to scroll.

Another major selling point could be the ability to stay 'on' the whole time while still sucking up less battery. How much battery is sucked up by current displays? After all, there is a reason why all cellphones have screen savers or at least the ability to choose for how long after the key presses the display has to stay bright. Of course you might not be able to use your cellphone or iPod as nightlamp anymore ...

While an extensible, always-on display could be a selling feature of some such portable device (oh yeah, did I mention portable music players?) it would still need to be priced reasonably. In-between the current B&W braindead displays and the current fancy color displays of phone-cams.

Re:If they can mass produce it ...

[JunkmanUK]

That's just nuts. You're disallowing people to demonstrate proof of concepts on the basis that it's not a marketable product? Not only that, but they *have* made a product, albeit a non-commercial one.

There are more reasons to demonstrate this than 'we can sell it'. By doing this they are not only getting feedback from potential customers and hardware developers but also cementing themselves as being one the pioneers of the technology.

If a company designed a new type of PC memory I would imagine they would build a prototype motherboard to demonstrate it to the professional motherboard manufacturers. They may not concern themselves with building the commercial motherboard as it's not in their expertise, rather develop business relations with motherboard manufacturers to allow them to embed it.

Re:If they can mass produce it ...

[SillyNickName4me]

They don't intend to make a product at all. They intend to sell these screens as components to companies that are making products.

Yes, that has been Phillips' way of doing business for a long time now. Seems to work well for them, and we actually get to see quite a few of their inventions, so companies seem to be quite willing to take their 'inventions' and make products based on them.

This is just unacceptable

[Aceticon]

They forgot to show the rank for red cards!!!

Who cares about yellow cards, i wanted to know who toped the red card ranks.

Twistability

[Wills]

Will we be able to twist a Readius into a Moebius?

Re:Looks good...

[Luuvitonen]

Yeah! Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these porno mags!

Prototype Rollable Paper-like Display Ready Early

[malia8888]

If it is "Rollable" and "Paperlike" in my domicile it is doomed to failure.

Nobody puts paper back on the roll around here!

Bedsheets

[rubberbando]

Now only if they could make bedsheets with this technology for all the pr0n lovers out there....

Re:Building a better mouse trap?

[narcc]

I have my own problems with e-books -- on one hand, I'd love to carry my entire library with me at all times -- with the added advantage of it being electronically searchable. I don't like the idea that my entire library could be lost by dropping the thing in the sink, leaving it on a bus, having it stolen from my pocket, etc. -- I also don't like the idea that my library might be useless/unreadable by changes in software or hardware (like some old wp docs I've got lying around on a 5 1/4" floppy disk)

This is what I'd like to see happen:
  1) Dead-Tree Media never ever go away! When I buy a book I intend to keep it until I die! (Until a new technology comes along that's better we'll need this kind of super-long-term information system. -- er, except for books like "Windows 95 unleashed" Those might not have much future value.)

  2) Printed books that include an electronic copy of the text for use with e-paper devices for a small additional cost (I refuse to pay an outragious price for an e-book when I could buy the hard-copy version for jsut a few dollars more -- an article I recently read mentioned tiny 30% discounts for e-textbooks that lasted only as long as a single semester. That sucks for the poor student who still pays too much, and gets absolutly nothing in the end! [er, perhaps (s)he gets it all in the "end"])

I guess what I want is the best of both worlds. Is that so much to ask?!