Students Hate The Kindle eReader
October 6th, 2009 9:28 AM | by Steve Anderson | 2 Comments
That’s a strange thought to wake up to, isn’t it? Well, it turns out they’ve got reason. Read on:
Words like “clunky”, “slow”, and “a real pain” have come up, as students trying out the Kindle DX in classes are discovering that the ereader may not be the replacement for overpriced textbooks they’d hoped for.
One student found it awkward to hold down the “alt” key every time he wanted to type in numbers. Since the Kindles have no page numbers, but rather, “location numbers”, students requiring source documentation find themselves typing out huge location numbers rather than simple two or three digit page numbers. Plus, anyone working out of a regular book will be utterly lost by the Kindle’s location numbering system and be unable to crosscheck the reference without a Kindle of their own.
More suggestions emerged, citing that the Kindle needed page numbers, but also asking for improvements to note taking and highlighting.
So, okay–maybe the Kindle isn’t an academic’s dream gadget just yet. But there’s every possibility that it will become so in the future.
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This is the type of real feedback that will help evolve the e-readers into the ‘perfect solution’ that it is trying to already be.
Exactly right, Bob. It doesn’t change the fact that right now they hate it, but with time and effort, it’ll be even better for this.