A few were able to snap up the much sought after free library copies of their required texts.
Most returned to their dorms exhausted, broke and still missing the supplementary CD and workbook their educators required of them.
Luckily, the college students of 2010 have a technological plethora of options to buy, rent, borrow, browse and save on their textbooks.
Some tips for those diving into the world of eReader and smart phone textbook buying this school year:
Shop around
Comparing prices has always been the No. 1 rule of textbook buying, but it’s never been so effortless. The following smart phone apps differ slightly, but all make finding the book you want at the best price a whole lot easier. All three of these options allow you to scan the books barcode with your phone’s camera, or enter the ISBN or title to manually search.
Bigwords (Available on iPhone, Free): This app has the most customizable search options allowing you to specify what formats you want to search for and exclude keywords and stores you don’t want. For example, you can search for only those stores offering guaranteed buyback, or only international editions. Enter your membership information for stores like Half.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Booksamillion or ECampus and it will search those services all at once.
SnapTell (Available on Android and iPhone, Free): Snap a picture of the cover of a book or the barcode and get tons of information about that title, including where to buy it cheap.
CampusBooks, formerly iBookStore (Available on Android and iPhone, Free): Not only will this app find a book for the lowest price either physically near you or in a digital copy, but it will also find you the highest price offer when you’re trying to sell your book back.
Rent
Just like in real estate, it’s kind of silly to buy something you’re only going to use for a short time. So be a renter. These websites and apps offer cheap rental and shipping offers. And, yes, you can still highlight in the books.
Chegg.com (Also available as an iPhone app, Free): Either scan the ISBN of the book you want or search for it by title and rent it for 60 days, a full quarter (85 days) or full semester (125 days). Bonus: Chegg plants a tree for every rental order. All trees are planted through their partnership with American Forests, supporting their Global ReLeaf program.
Cengagebrain.com: Save up to 70 percent off the list price when you rent for a 130-day semester. You can buy or rent your book in print or as an eBook. They even have eChapters available for download if you don’t want to pay for the whole book.
They also have a free iPhone app with study tools such as quizzes and flash cards to supplement what you’re reading.
Bookrenter.com: Not only can you save money by renting your textbooks, but you can set up your own online bookstore for free and earn money for your group, school or just for pizza and beer. It takes almost no effort and you earn 8 percent of every purchase made through your branded site.
Go Digital
If you’ve already shelled out the cash for a tablet or eReader, you can simply download all your textbooks onto your device for as little as $10 per text. There are hundreds of eBook sellers out there, but here are some deals from the big name sites to be aware of.
Barnes and Noble: Their textbook section touts its many ways to get your textbooks for less with their slogan, “Buy new, used, rent or download.” You can do it all from barnesandnoble.com/textbooks. No matter if you have a Nook or not, you can download the free NOOKstudy application for the Mac, PC or Nook eReader. With more than 500,000 eBooks available free, you can have all your textbooks on your computer or tablet along with your notes, which can be highlighted, tagged, referenced and copy and pasted straight from eTextbooks.
Half.com from eBay: Many of Half.com’s physical books come with a free eBook edition. Download the free iPhone app to scan barcodes for quick searching.
Amazon.com: A search for “Textbooks for Kindle” on Amazon brought up 1,044 results. Plus sign up for the free Amazon Student membership program and get a membership to Amazon Prime free for one year (a $79 value), unlimited free two-day shipping on textbooks, no minimum order size and upgrades to one-day shipping for $3.99 per item. You’ll also get e-mail alerts for exclusive deals and promotions.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2124 or kwedell@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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