Groups Say Textbook Publishers Rip Off Students

[DrPizza]

lmfao...
MY university takes existing texts and edits them to print THEIR OWN VERSION! And, of course, for the value added to the text, they up the price a bit more; not to mention publish it in paperback form.

Fortunately, I've figured that one out and have been buying the original texts, older editions at that, and haven't had a bit of trouble.

 

[mugs]

I rarely spent more than $100-150 on books in a semester. I usually bought books used from other students, even if they weren't the current version. My profs rarely gave homework out of the book, and when they did I could get the questions from someone else if they were different. Sometimes I shared books with friends who were taking the same class, sometimes I didn't even bother to buy the book.

 

[DarkKnight]

The prices for books are a rip off. For my engineering class I have to buy a small 375 page book (might sound like a lot, but its a small book) and it costs $120!!!! I usually try to buy them used through the bookstore and after the semester is done I sell them MYSELF instead of selling it to the bookstore for less than 1/2 of what I can make on ebay.

 

[quakefiend420]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure
We need to start ripping our text books to PDF and exchanging them on Bit Torrent or IRC.

If only it were that easy.

why hasnt anyone done that...as long as you had a laptop or pda you would be good to go..

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Originally posted by: NakaNaka

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure

Originally posted by: brxndxn

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure
We need to start ripping our text books to PDF and exchanging them on Bit Torrent or IRC.

If only it were that easy.

That needs to happen before next year. :thumbsup:

Agreed.. It's the natural progression in education and capitalism. If Americans are taken advantage of, they throw tea off a ship!

Who wants to throw some books into the water with me?

Actually, it wouldn't be that hard... kinkos unbinds books for 10 dollars so you just have loose pages (which are normally hole punched so yo can take a chapter to class instead lugging the whole book... they rebind too ). After that I guess its just a question of fiinding an imager scanner with auto feed to...

:evil:

hmmmmm

Now the question is, would people actually download these versions since they are all buying the new ones anyway when they could be getting the older ones (I'm assuming the versions for download would be older)

Why not rip new books too... the same way they do with cds... i know i'd dl.

I might get a vacation for advocating that... but these publishers should be shot for raping me with these books

 

[Anonemous]

uh aren't some of those international editions much cheaper because they are copies?

 

[conjur]

An update:
Professors Challenge Cost of Textbooks
Hundreds of instructors nationwide and at UCLA send a letter to a publishing firm protesting frequent costly new editions.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me...126.story?coll=la-headlines-california

Criticizing the high cost of college textbooks, hundreds of professors at UCLA and nationwide asked a publishing firm Thursday to stop printing frequently revised editions of its textbooks that the teachers say hike prices and make cheaper used books obsolete.

In a group letter to Thomson Learning Inc., about 700 math and physics professors from 150 universities expressed particular concern over the cost of the company's introductory physics textbook.

The faculty members assert that the material in "Physics for Scientists and Engineers," now in its sixth edition, has had few revisions that validate the printing of a new, higher-priced edition. The hardback textbook, available new on the Thomson website for $134.96, was revised and printed in 2004, four years after its previous edition....

If books go for $25-30 on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, why are these pushing $150???

<--- shakes w/fear as he has a daughter bound for college in a little over a year

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

So on my site (see sig) we will soon be adding information on publishers. One of the things I am going to be doing is clearly showing which publishers are doing this. I should be able to get a few nasty letters for it.

 

[StageLeft]

NO SH*T SHERLOCK! This is why i don't consider it theft to buy the book, photocopy it, and then return it, which I had done in the past. I had a course and the syllabus let me know which chapters we'd need so I did that guiltlessly. It's a monopoly, and one shoulid have no qualms about ripping a monopoly off, because they are inherently naughty.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

I'm kinda ticked this semester. I purchased 4 (out of maybe 12) books that have not been opened the entire semester.