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ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Jul 11, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The high cost of textbooks is leading some U.S. colleges to offer electronic versions of the tomes at about half the price of traditional books.
The college bookstore once had something of a monopoly on books needed for courses at school but with e-retailers such as Amazon.com and eBay offering texts -- sometimes at reduced prices -- the bookstores find the need to expand their product lines.
That's why the bookstore at Elgin Community College this fall will offer electronic versions of some texts, the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald reported Monday. Students in effect rent the book for a semester, which allows them to highlight in the "book" as they need to and print pages. The cost is about half the price of a traditional book.
Bookstores operators told the Daily Herald students are aggressively shopping the Internet for the best prices for new and used texts -- and even that end-of-term rite of selling the books back. Losing those customers can cut into the profitability of the college bookstores, money that helps fund others campus activities, the Daily Herald said.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
