Ok, you got me. One iMac, 3 frankencomps, a laptop that's about 11 years old (it gets -10 mins of battery life -- thinking about unplugging it causes it to power off), and a secondhand Dell.
If you don't think that WoW is one of the best looking games out there, you should really play it on a nice machine with everything cranked up. I play it on my late-2006 20" iMac with everything maxed out except for antialiasing and still manage framerates of 30fps... and it's gorgeous. Simply stunning.
Well, it's a long way from Asheron's Call, anyway.
Yeah, I could even actually see me getting one... except by the time it got in my hands (6-8 weeks after winning the monthly lottery) I'd almost expect my toon to look signifigantly different.
Not arguing at all about the supposed coolness factor, just sayin... man, that's a lot of gametime dollars for something that's just a reminder and an approximation of what you have going on.
Oh no, I grasp it. I was trying to be pithy and judging by the comments, either everyone missed it or no-one but me so far in this thread plays WoW and has to budget that $15 a month. Paying on a month-to-month or using gamecards for bimonthly payments, $110 is about 10 months of playtime. Ask a heroin junkie if he would rather buy $110 worth of junk or if he'd rather buy $110 of something concrete that deals directly with his habit (say, a golden syringe) and he's gonna go for the junk (or steal something and get both).
Months? Ha! Years it's been. I'm convinced it was because I was shot down in metamod. Read my journal (all entries) for the rest of the story.
The funny thing is that now that I don't care what my karma is (and have actively been trying to burn it for over 2 years) I get modded up all the time.
As does mine. Of course, during the late 90s the IT department spent a good deal of time trying to educate the public, but they eventually gave up and now just give out a cd to all freshmen that installs the av client, configures Outlook (or Mail, recently) for the university mailbox, and installs a couple of anti-spy programs.
Then again, we always get a few people in here who claim the "Get Connected!" cd totally broke their system. These people are usually the same people who have trouble installing Office as well, though... gone by their third semester;).
This guy gets it. Only thing you left out was the lower print run of the typical textbook vs the latest Stephen King novel. Interesting you picked King, because he's exactly the example I use when describing what you say above (happens frequently, especially during orientation).
The customized textbook solution is good if you're looking to get them away from the $180 chemistry book (it wouldn't happen to be the Silverberg package, would it?). And even then, it's going to still run money (mostly for the copyright clearance -- and some larger unis do this internally for cheap). As for the bookstore bit, if you don't change custom books, then your custom book should have decent resell value.
As for the international eds: yeah, I've seen some nice ones too, more often than not. But when you say entry level... it's a different name for the same thing. What's more probable is that the 3rd world books are going to start being a lot more expensive over in their country of origin. Anyone who thinks that the publishers' solution to the international grey market will be to lower the cost of domestic books is really not thinking so clearly, or at least not like a publisher.
The "you" was, in fact, generic:). This is just discussion on slashdot, afterall.
As for pricing structure: I can say without doubt that our store is outside the norm for most college bookstores. We are independent (neither owned by the university nor a national chain), and our school is the largest in the state. There have been trade articles written specifically about our company's pricing and buyback policies. So again, I can't speak for other college retailers, but we don't make the vast margin that people think we do. Personally, I wish that all required texts were $10 and we always had used copies of everything. That would at least drive traffic to the store. Unfortunately, that's not the case and probably won't ever be. So, we do what we can: we discount all new textbooks 10% at a minimum from the MSRP. All of our surplus funds go back to the university, and this gives back to the student body -- we pay for scholarships, student life projects, renovation of structures, etc -- through an endowment to the university. We've given over $39mil since 1968, and next January we will add another $1.5mil to that. So that's where our money goes. As I said, we're different. But I wonder how many people on our campus know what I've written here, even though we advertise this information frequently. No one bothers to find out, they just complain about the prices and buy online, and quite often don't get as good a deal.
One word on electronic texts: talk about no sell-back value items....
"Because its a prereq for General Chem. 1 and 2, we use the first three chapters of the textbook for that course."
Every major publisher, including (probably) the publisher of the book you use, offers a "custom printing service". They would gladly print just those three chapters and nothing else, or whatever scheme you can come up with -- chapters 1-3, 6, 10 and 13, etc etc.
Although I can't speak for every college bookstore in the US, I certainly can speak for the one I work for. We don't pay "pennies on the dollar" for used books. For most of the school semester, we buy the books for a third-party used book dealer (such as Follet, MBS, and the like) and collect a 10% commission. However, during the last 2 weeks of any given semester and the first week of any given semester, if we know a book has been adopted for the coming term we pay 50% of new price (even on a used book). The key here is we have to know it's adopted for use -- we ask the professors at least 3 months before the start of the semester for their book lists. Every single semester we end up with super late adoptions -- sometimes edging into the midterms.
International editions _do_ sacrifice quality. The material is there, but there's no mistaking an international book. Hell, I've bought back copies that are quite plainly photocopies of the original text -- shadow effects on the edge of a page. And personally I'm all for students saving a buck, but mark my words -- within 10 years there won't be an "international edition" anymore. The publishers know those books are coming back into the states and aren't really happy about it, and moves are being made to curtail that particular practice.
So, although it's easy to blame the bookstore, in most cases the professor is the one making choices as to what book is used in their classes (at least, one should hope so). You are admittedly guilty of requiring your students to get the $180 package when they only need a small part of that book and even though you have the means to acquire a better deal for them, you don't. Maybe because you didn't know about the option, maybe because your higher ed book rep is a snake, maybe because you don't care.
Again, I can only speak for my store, but I know our average margin on both new and used books, and we're a fairly large school -- over 30,000 undergrads -- I'm not eating steak. The clothing and gifts people, though...
I'm not disputing your statement that tangible media is better if you are paying for something. I'm with you 100% on that and in fact it's only been within the last 6 months that I've ever purchased anything from ITMS.
As for the restrictions you point out above though, I think you're just set on not using the service. Don't want to use your credit card? Fine. You can buy ITMS cards of varying denominations at practically any brick and mortar. Pay cash for it, if you like. Only drawback here is that if you're in a tax free internet sales state, you're going to pay tax on the card whereas you wouldn't if you bought it directly from ITMS. I can tell perfectly fine what my songs are; I don't know where you get that from. It is true that you can't use your iPod in this way: the filenames are switched around when you store them there, but I understand it's a pretty simple thing to break (and too, there's always Rockbox). But, this isn't about iPod, it's about ITMS, and as I said, on my computer absolutely everything is easily accessible and in a very intuitive file system (/Users/Library/Music/Artist/Album/Song). Lastly, don't like the DRM that limits you? Fair enough. Download the iTunes Plus songs, which don't have that limitation. Sure it costs more, but it solves your complaint.
I know what you're saying, and I'm not trying to be an apologist, I'm just saying you sound a lot like those guys who say claim that Apple sucks because there's only one mouse button. I'm saying buy a 2 button mouse, and plug it in then. In short, you stopped at the problem and didn't bother looking for a solution.
What? You fill out your name and address, plug in a credit card number, pick a password.
When you're ready to buy you click on one button and re-enter your password. You can even check a box so you never have to re-enter your password, and reduce that step.
Either your sister is lying to you, or doesn't know how to properly operate the easiest-to-use music software (imo, ymmv) ever, or she doesn't have a cd burner. You choose.
Tracks bought from ITMS can be burned to CD a limited number (7) of times.
10 Hours to level up just once? You must be talking about EQ or AC. It took me longer to install WoW, download all the patches, and set up the account than it took me to get to level 7, and I'm notorious for being slow (sue me, I explore a lot) in MMORPGs.
Slashdot Mirror
RTFA and see!
It's also the crisis that launches Skynet into self-awareness in T3.
Hmm. I'll take the future with the hot Summer Glau, thanks.
Yes.
Ok, you got me. One iMac, 3 frankencomps, a laptop that's about 11 years old (it gets -10 mins of battery life -- thinking about unplugging it causes it to power off), and a secondhand Dell.
Firstly, I think Win+d is an awesome godsend to slackers who browse at work. Sometimes, alt+space+n just doesn't cut it.
Secondly, that context menu key can come in handy if for some reason you don't have a mouse attached.
Thirdly, I own a Mac.
If you don't think that WoW is one of the best looking games out there, you should really play it on a nice machine with everything cranked up. I play it on my late-2006 20" iMac with everything maxed out except for antialiasing and still manage framerates of 30fps ... and it's gorgeous. Simply stunning.
Well, it's a long way from Asheron's Call, anyway.
Yeah, I could even actually see me getting one ... except by the time it got in my hands (6-8 weeks after winning the monthly lottery) I'd almost expect my toon to look signifigantly different.
... man, that's a lot of gametime dollars for something that's just a reminder and an approximation of what you have going on.
Not arguing at all about the supposed coolness factor, just sayin
Oh no, I grasp it. I was trying to be pithy and judging by the comments, either everyone missed it or no-one but me so far in this thread plays WoW and has to budget that $15 a month. Paying on a month-to-month or using gamecards for bimonthly payments, $110 is about 10 months of playtime. Ask a heroin junkie if he would rather buy $110 worth of junk or if he'd rather buy $110 of something concrete that deals directly with his habit (say, a golden syringe) and he's gonna go for the junk (or steal something and get both).
Not in my mind: $115 could get me more than 10 months worth of game time.
Months?
Ha! Years it's been. I'm convinced it was because I was shot down in metamod.
Read my journal (all entries) for the rest of the story.
The funny thing is that now that I don't care what my karma is (and have actively been trying to burn it for over 2 years) I get modded up all the time.
... and that's why he got my vote last year.
That & he's all but said the current state of **aa vs p2p is sublimely stupid.
Does Netcraft confirm it?
Or should we look it up in Wikipedia?
As does mine. Of course, during the late 90s the IT department spent a good deal of time trying to educate the public, but they eventually gave up and now just give out a cd to all freshmen that installs the av client, configures Outlook (or Mail, recently) for the university mailbox, and installs a couple of anti-spy programs.
... gone by their third semester ;).
Then again, we always get a few people in here who claim the "Get Connected!" cd totally broke their system. These people are usually the same people who have trouble installing Office as well, though
I must say though, she plays one mean skin flute :).
(you knew it was going to be said...)
This guy gets it. Only thing you left out was the lower print run of the typical textbook vs the latest Stephen King novel. Interesting you picked King, because he's exactly the example I use when describing what you say above (happens frequently, especially during orientation).
Sometimes, but not always. I assure you, there are some really obvious variants out there.
The customized textbook solution is good if you're looking to get them away from the $180 chemistry book (it wouldn't happen to be the Silverberg package, would it?). And even then, it's going to still run money (mostly for the copyright clearance -- and some larger unis do this internally for cheap). As for the bookstore bit, if you don't change custom books, then your custom book should have decent resell value.
:). This is just discussion on slashdot, afterall.
....
As for the international eds: yeah, I've seen some nice ones too, more often than not. But when you say entry level... it's a different name for the same thing. What's more probable is that the 3rd world books are going to start being a lot more expensive over in their country of origin. Anyone who thinks that the publishers' solution to the international grey market will be to lower the cost of domestic books is really not thinking so clearly, or at least not like a publisher.
The "you" was, in fact, generic
As for pricing structure: I can say without doubt that our store is outside the norm for most college bookstores. We are independent (neither owned by the university nor a national chain), and our school is the largest in the state. There have been trade articles written specifically about our company's pricing and buyback policies. So again, I can't speak for other college retailers, but we don't make the vast margin that people think we do. Personally, I wish that all required texts were $10 and we always had used copies of everything. That would at least drive traffic to the store. Unfortunately, that's not the case and probably won't ever be. So, we do what we can: we discount all new textbooks 10% at a minimum from the MSRP. All of our surplus funds go back to the university, and this gives back to the student body -- we pay for scholarships, student life projects, renovation of structures, etc -- through an endowment to the university. We've given over $39mil since 1968, and next January we will add another $1.5mil to that. So that's where our money goes. As I said, we're different. But I wonder how many people on our campus know what I've written here, even though we advertise this information frequently. No one bothers to find out, they just complain about the prices and buy online, and quite often don't get as good a deal.
One word on electronic texts: talk about no sell-back value items
"Because its a prereq for General Chem. 1 and 2, we use the first three chapters of the textbook for that course."
...
Every major publisher, including (probably) the publisher of the book you use, offers a "custom printing service". They would gladly print just those three chapters and nothing else, or whatever scheme you can come up with -- chapters 1-3, 6, 10 and 13, etc etc.
Although I can't speak for every college bookstore in the US, I certainly can speak for the one I work for. We don't pay "pennies on the dollar" for used books. For most of the school semester, we buy the books for a third-party used book dealer (such as Follet, MBS, and the like) and collect a 10% commission. However, during the last 2 weeks of any given semester and the first week of any given semester, if we know a book has been adopted for the coming term we pay 50% of new price (even on a used book). The key here is we have to know it's adopted for use -- we ask the professors at least 3 months before the start of the semester for their book lists. Every single semester we end up with super late adoptions -- sometimes edging into the midterms.
International editions _do_ sacrifice quality. The material is there, but there's no mistaking an international book. Hell, I've bought back copies that are quite plainly photocopies of the original text -- shadow effects on the edge of a page. And personally I'm all for students saving a buck, but mark my words -- within 10 years there won't be an "international edition" anymore. The publishers know those books are coming back into the states and aren't really happy about it, and moves are being made to curtail that particular practice.
So, although it's easy to blame the bookstore, in most cases the professor is the one making choices as to what book is used in their classes (at least, one should hope so). You are admittedly guilty of requiring your students to get the $180 package when they only need a small part of that book and even though you have the means to acquire a better deal for them, you don't. Maybe because you didn't know about the option, maybe because your higher ed book rep is a snake, maybe because you don't care.
Again, I can only speak for my store, but I know our average margin on both new and used books, and we're a fairly large school -- over 30,000 undergrads -- I'm not eating steak. The clothing and gifts people, though
I'm not disputing your statement that tangible media is better if you are paying for something. I'm with you 100% on that and in fact it's only been within the last 6 months that I've ever purchased anything from ITMS.
As for the restrictions you point out above though, I think you're just set on not using the service. Don't want to use your credit card? Fine. You can buy ITMS cards of varying denominations at practically any brick and mortar. Pay cash for it, if you like. Only drawback here is that if you're in a tax free internet sales state, you're going to pay tax on the card whereas you wouldn't if you bought it directly from ITMS. I can tell perfectly fine what my songs are; I don't know where you get that from. It is true that you can't use your iPod in this way: the filenames are switched around when you store them there, but I understand it's a pretty simple thing to break (and too, there's always Rockbox). But, this isn't about iPod, it's about ITMS, and as I said, on my computer absolutely everything is easily accessible and in a very intuitive file system (/Users/Library/Music/Artist/Album/Song). Lastly, don't like the DRM that limits you? Fair enough. Download the iTunes Plus songs, which don't have that limitation. Sure it costs more, but it solves your complaint.
I know what you're saying, and I'm not trying to be an apologist, I'm just saying you sound a lot like those guys who say claim that Apple sucks because there's only one mouse button. I'm saying buy a 2 button mouse, and plug it in then. In short, you stopped at the problem and didn't bother looking for a solution.
iTunes is way, way too difficult to mess with
What? You fill out your name and address, plug in a credit card number, pick a password.
When you're ready to buy you click on one button and re-enter your password. You can even check a box so you never have to re-enter your password, and reduce that step.
How's that hard?
I stand happily corrected :).
Either your sister is lying to you, or doesn't know how to properly operate the easiest-to-use music software (imo, ymmv) ever, or she doesn't have a cd burner. You choose.
Tracks bought from ITMS can be burned to CD a limited number (7) of times.
Anything with 133t. Noob. Lol and all derivatives thereof. And I've never heard blook or folksonomy -- must be a UK thing.
Oh. Heh, I should have expected that.
Go ahead and say it... "ur a n00b".
10 Hours to level up just once? You must be talking about EQ or AC.
It took me longer to install WoW, download all the patches, and set up the account than it took me to get to level 7, and I'm notorious for being slow (sue me, I explore a lot) in MMORPGs.