Amazon Tries Taking the Kindle to School, Again, With Textbook Rentals

In the article Amazon Tries Taking the Kindle to School, Again, With Textbook Rentals the author addresses Amazons decisions back in 2011 to begin renting electronic textbooks. What is surprising about this is how long it took Amazon to begin offering electronic textbooks. The kindle was one of the first electronic readers to be produced back in 2007, and they are just now beginning to allow students to rent textbooks on their e-readers. This is something Barnes & Nobel has been doing with their tablet for a couple of years already.

As a future educator I really like the fact that Amazon is allowing students to rent electronic textbooks, especially at a lower price than traditional textbooks cost. If students are able to get all their textbooks electrically, than it would save students from having o carry around numerous heavy textbooks in their backpacks, which has been known to cause back problems. I also like the feature that anything students highlights and notes that students made in their text will remain even after the book is “returned.” This means students will still be able to access information that they or the teacher deemed important. I definitely like the idea of using electronic textbooks on e-readers in my classroom, and so I am excited to hear that the kindle has begun offering electronic textbooks.