nobahar said:
The formatting can be a bit iffy; and, unless you get the new one, it isn't colour: which isn't good for diagrams.
The formatting issue was solved a decade ago with *.pdf. The issue isn't formatting. It's licensing. If everyone involved weren't so doggone greedy, we'd be years ahead of where we are.
Fortunately, a few kind souls make some terrific software which is in the public domain or licensed for free. You can surf iTunes for the edu section and take some of the "Harvard" (don't know if they're actually put out there by Harvard or not) classes for free.
I'm disappointed that education in our country has become big business. Used to be educators were among the best in the business, they were paid a decent salary and imparted what they knew to their students, often using re-used textbooks that were decades old, but solid references. Any late-breaking information was given to the students via the blackboard.
Then some higher ups in the universities had to play one-upsmanship with other universities, trying to attract the best students. Professors weren't considered viable for tenure unless they were published, a marketable trait for the university. They couldn't public if students were using last year's book, so new editions came out every year or so.
I don't know how long this trend had been going on when I first attended college in 1978. I just know most of our high school textbooks had been used anywhere between one and seven years in a row. We recycled them. On rare occasion, if the names list was filled, we were allowed to keep them if we wanted to.
I still have the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary my mom took with her to college in 1952. It bears a copyright of 1950, as she bought it used from some guy named David (his last name is there, but this being the Internet and all, it's best to keep it off). I used it throughout my own college years, and it sits on my desk to this very day because I still use it often.
I like it because it has the cutouts with the letters printed there, so I can go straight to the section I need.
What I'm saying is that it's 61 years old and still as useful today as it was then. Have math and physics changed that much? Until you get into the upper level classes, I wouldn't think so.
So nobahar, if you want color, both Kindle ($80) and Nook ($140) have color versions (twice the B&W prices to the left), but their battery life stinks. Very few of my college texts had color pictures, and most of those were for "ooh and ahh" effect.
The B&W version of the Nook lasts for six weeks or more, the screen is readable from near candle light to the brightest of sunlight, and it's easy on your eyes. Barnes and Noble claims their Nook has more titles than the Kindle, as well as better connectivity for downloads. Don't know if that's true, but a quick demonstration had me convincing that downloading a book on the Nook was cake.
I do know the Nook has zero problem downloading PDFs from the Internet. They look just like you'd expect them to look (I've seen 'em). To quote a user: "The nook WILL read secure Adobe PDF and secure Adobe ePub files." From: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Resolved-Issues-Archived/How-to-read-Adobe-PDF-and-Adobe-ePub-books/td-p/503848
Don't know about the Kindle's pdf support. Anyone?