[–] thejustchad ago
I think it actually comes down to ease conversion and also demand. There are tons of tools to convert a movie to digital format, but converting a physical text book requires a lot more work.
[–] TinyTinaTrumpsAll ago
I think it's just because there's less demand for textbooks than there is for movies, games, music, etc. I agree, they charge ridiculous amounts for textbooks, and I never bought one through my college years.
I found it was a lot easier to find the previous edition of a text book, instead of the most current. I found ebooks for all my classes that way, and was able to pass my courses just fine. Usually they only change around format or edit a few sentences between editions, so page numbers may be different but most of the content was the same.
Like others have said, use your library first. See if your library has the book, an account with a large ebook site, or if they can borrow the book for you from another library. Scan the chapters that your class summary says you'll go over. If that fails, use TPB, KAT, or other torrent sites. It can take awhile to find one, but you should be able to eventually.
Also, check goodwill and other thrift stores in your area. A lot of kids donate their old textbooks at the end of the semester.
[–] wickedsteve ago
That has not been my experience at all. I don't have any problem finding books.
[–] FPHrefugee ago
I would love to just find a place where I could download books to read. I swear there needs to be an online library, giving you access for a certain amount of time then you don't have it anymore, it'd be awesome
Look, if people want this to happen then:
theres a crapton of books tho. 50 books = 15000 people scan 1 page for 300 paged books (less than a city population) x 50 states = 2500 books covered in less than 1 hour.
Seems like its plausible if you had enough people on a schedule....and the donations for a copy of the books...is there anything like this out there now,LOL?
[–] CanIHazPhD ago
I had this same feeling, but encompassing textbooks, technical books and papers.
I actually started planning to program a torrent-like client for distribution of such files, but couldn't actually do it and eventually I gave up :(
[–] Pawn ago
what a fucking quitter. There I said it. Does it make you mad? User that anger to do your project you lazy bum.
[–] CanIHazPhD ago
Sadly I realized the project was beyond my ability, I'm not a programmer, it's just a hobby. But I'm thinking about recruiting a friend or strangers from the internet, I'm just postponing it to a time I'm not swamped in other work.