Is the iPad a Game Changer for E-Textbooks?

Have you dreamed of an an e-book reader that can handle textbooks and reduce the back-breaking load of dead-tree books that our students and children carry? The Kindle and various incarnations of the Sony E-Reader are fine for novels, but how can you have a textbook without color?

The Apple iPad has arrived with great fanfare. Is it the e-Textbook game changer? Universities are now making headlines by providing iPads for their students. Will faculty find that their favorite textbooks are available on this dream machine? Here, I've gathered links to recent articles and podcasts that cover the iPad as e-textbook platform. Do you think the iPad is the e-textbook game changer (add your comments below)?

The E-Textbook Experiment Turns A Page by Lynn Neary (listen to the story from NPR's "All Things Considered")

The game changer, according to Matt MacInnis, may be a little thing called the iPad. MacInnis is the founder and CEO of Inkling, a company that designs textbook software for the iPad. He says the iPad has allowed for the reinvention of the textbook.

As Textbooks Go Digital, Will Professors Build Their Own Books? By Jeffrey R. Young (read this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education)

McGraw-Hill Higher Education plans to announce its revamped custom-publishing system, called Create, with an emphasis on electronic versions of mix-and-match books. Macmillan Publishers this year announced a similar custom-textbook platform, called DynamicBooks. And upstart Flat World Knowledge touts the customization features of its textbooks, which it gives away online, charging only for printed copies and study guides.

Rod's Pulse Podcast #87: Special iPad in Education Edition (listen to this interview by Rod Murray)

Interview: Dr. Mary Ann Gawelek, Provost, Seton Hill University on "An iPad for Everyone" - Dr. Gawelek tells us about their Griffin Technology Advantage Program and how they prepared their faculty and IT infrastructure to handle iPads and MacBook Pros for all their incoming students.

Also from Rod's Pulse Podcast:

RPP #82: E-Textbooks: Are We There Yet? Interview with Scott Beadenkopf
RPP #83: E-Readers: Are We There Yet? Interview with Scott Beadenkopf (Part 2)