Textbooks should just come with a QR code...

John Olinda Textbooks should just come with a QR code instead of a CD in the back. Less plastic wasted. Of course then you have to maintain a URL for the files, but that will last at least as long as CD drives.

9y, 7w 7 replies ¬

😷 Everett I'm surprised to hear they still using CDs. There's something so 20th century about *giving* you content you've paid for to use perpetually, not making you rent it.

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Mark Dain None of my computers have a CD/DVD drive anyway so I couldn't even read that if I wanted to.

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Eric Portable plug and play DVD RW are super cheap and available now so this isn't a huge issue.

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Martijn I think the whole textbooks business is weird anyway. Where are the ebooks? Why do they cost over a 100 bucks per book? Still hoping for initiatives like Wikibooks to catch on for real, but I don't see it happening unless universities start paying their lecturers to more actively write their own material and putting it online.

9y, 7w 1 reply

😀 Tom I already have a bachelor of science degree, but I'm currently taking a few classes at a local community college. I dont remember the details, but the professors say they get in trouble from the administration if they don't use new textbooks from the company of choice. It's all about money, because that community college is top-heavy with high-paying administrative positions with little responsibility.

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😀 Tom But then it costs more for the company to maintain whatever service/servers they use to deliver the content. Companies kind of do this by using scratch-off, one-time codes (and of course make more money by selling it to individuals rather than letting people share a CD).

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John Olinda Well my concern is more that fewer and fewer computers come with CD drives. But educational companies don't seem to realize this yet.

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