Coriolis OUT OF BUSINESS for good! ***Deal dead, all web sites down, final orders shipping, refunds given***

[TreyRandom]

It seems that Coriolis, publisher of the Exam Cram series of books, has been dissolved as of last week. As a result, many of their products are at 75% off normal list price due to a "Spring Break Promotion". However, the news of the company dissolution does not appear on their web site.

According to the CertCities article (linkified above), Coriolis was dissolved due to poor financials and lack of a buyer. I've noticed a drop in quality in their products since the NT4 days, but for 75% off, it might be worth picking up an exam guide or two.

Many of their Exam Cram books, which are normally $35, are selling for $8.74 each on the Coriolis and Exam Cram websites (also linkified above). However, the shipping costs are very high - about $3.50 a book, with VERY little advantage to purchasing multiple books (shipping 2 books is slightly less than $7, etc.). Additionally, only ground shipping is available. For $12.25 per shipped book, it still beats the prices at Amazon or Bookpool. Buy them before they're gone for good!

Hope this Random information helps!

 

[kenja]

Thanks, Random.
I just bought a bookshelf of eight "black books". Too bad about the shipping: $41; supposed to be delivered within a week ("fastest" is the only shipping option allowed).

 

[wyvrn]

OOS on CCNA and Win2k Prof.

 

[TreyRandom]

I picked up 4 Exam Crams for about $50, including shipping. There were a few titles out of stock, but not very many. That will probably change as people find out about the sale.

I've also noticed that their web site is hard to navigate. Almost impossible to find the SQL2K books. Under MCDBA (which was spelled MSDBA), there were only SQL7 books. The 2000 books are under SQL. Java 2 second edition is listed under Java/General, whereas Java 2 first edition is listed under Java/Java and under one of the Sun columns. Best to do an advanced title search rather than wade through their lame menus.

 

[irabufan]

does anyone know what's the difference between the exam prep and the exam cram series?

 

[junthin]

<< does anyone know what's the difference between the exam prep and the exam cram series? >>



irabufan: The difference between the two series is...

Exam prep actually teaches you the material that you need to know. It goes in detail about the things that are on the test and teaches you the background information and concepts needed. Good if you don't know anything on the subject.

Exam cram doesn't teach the entire concept but rather is designed for "cramming" (as the title implies). It goes over what will most likely be on the tests, and goes over some details of the concepts, but not as detailed as the exam prep. It's a good series if you already know (or think you know) what the tests are about, but need something to reinforce your knowledge before you go take the tests.


Enjoy!

 

[Kilocomp]

Maybe we should have them match BN's free shipping deal ;-). That would be really funny. This deal plus BN's deal, I got 8 tech books for 90 bucks.

Nick

 

[jaynonymous]

Thanks, Trey!

It is hard to believe that they are going out of business. I ordered several Exam Cram books today! Each book was only $8.74! However, the shipping price is really high. It is still cheaper than the other book stores I looked at. I noticed that the sale is limited to quantities in stock, and some of the books I looked at were out of stock, but as you said Trey, most books are still in stock. Thanks again!

 

[TreyRandom]

I don't think Coriolis is in much of a position to "match" anything right now. Plus, it's not like they'd need to "build customer loyalty" anymore. From what I've read, the writers haven't even been paid royalties recently. Guess there will be a bunch of tech writers looking for a new gig. Rough world.

 

[HKSturboKID]

I just got in on this deal. Pickup a couple of XP reference book, Black book and some web design book. Not bad, pickup 5 books shipped for $90. As I was picking out the books, I have amazon and b&m site open to compare the prices.

 

[Pocatello]

Very nice. Thank you.

 

[robsdeals]

Great Deals , Got the Web Designer´s Power Pack reg 130 for 33 and the PHP book reg 50 for 15 to spruce up the web site. Thanks..

 

[vinnyracer]

You guys might want to check out this website

http://www.booksonline.com/bookclubs/bol/tiolis.htm

Join one of their clubs and all you have to buy is just one more book.

 

[StageLeft]

My brother's first IT job was working there. I also used a couple of their books to get my MCSD last year.

 

[kenja]

"Buy them before they're gone for good!"

Nah, they'll still be at half.com, among other places. I just bought my next quarter's textbooks there for far less than what the school store charges for used stuff. I went to www.couponcraze.com first; it has a book coupon list. Oh, a good comparison site is: www.allbookstores.com

 

[JEDI]

vinnyracer, nice. too bad cisco is coming out w/a new exam version soon from 507 to 607

 

[whizbang]

I guess Coriolis' business stopped accelerating (hehehe, geek joke)

 

[TreyRandom]

Sure, you'll be able to get them used from half.com and ebay just like we always have... but they will neither be printed anymore nor sold at your local/web-based new bookstore... unless someone decides to buy either the remains of the company or, at least, the naming rights.

 

[JEDI]

ok..went ahead and bought the ccna book anyway. probably still useful for the new 607 exam. also got the w2k server. shipping 5.74

also, u notice that their checkout page is only 56bit encryption, instead of 128?

hm..half.com doesnt have exam cram ccna 640-507. they have the OLD one for 407, but not for the current (and soon to be outdated) 507. correction, Cisco's website now has 507 as outdated. new tests are 607.

 

[TwoMix]

Hey how does their CCNA book compare to sybex's? I know that Sybex is $30 where this is $10, but quality counts 2...thanks.

 

[dleiss]

I passed 70-228, SQL 2k Admin, and the ExamCram for it isn't worth toilet paper.

DON'T waste your money or time on ExamCram 70-228. This book was 100%
useless. I had to go back to my ExamPrep for SQL 7, which still had a lot of relevant info in it. Inside SQL 2000 also has a lot of good info, but even the white paper on replication left blanks that were covered on the exam. I posted a query to this board on how many copies of a table are made by the replicator? I had a question VERY similar to my innocent question. The main lesson I learned is not to get too close to the front edge of the testing envelope. I am preparing for 70-229 now and there are still very few good references out there. BTW, the BOL did not help me that much in preparing for 70-228, mainly because there descriptions were too short.

The Transceder Flash and M$ Readiness Review questions had great technical coverage, but omitted many technically advanced questions and had no or simpleton scenario-type questions.

The most complete book I have used, besides Minasi, was Talbot's
ExamPrep for SQL 7.0.

Areas covered included replication, clustering, SQL performance counters,
SQL performance counters vs., Win performance counters, actual SQL code,
and how transactions are processed.

 

[TreyRandom]

The 640-607 test should be very similar to the 640-507 test - the concepts have not changed, according to Cisco. From what I've been able to gather, it's only 50 questions now (I think the 507 had 65), but the passing score is still 849. The only brand new thing on the 607 test are router simulations. RouterSim products should help you through if you haven't had much hands-on experience with Cisco routers.

 

[DorkBoy]

 

[QueHuong]

Thanks...I think I'll pick up some Photoshop, Visual.Net, and other books. Great find.

 

[pinhead]

can never have enough books, thanks!