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Today, the eBook reader is ubiquitous. You have the iPad, the Kindle, the Nook, Sony eReader and a host of others. There is an ongoing war between all of these the eReaders for market dominance and kind of set the stage for which one becomes the dominant player in the market. This war has moved into the classroom and the device that becomes accepted as the ideal gadget for the classroom will definitely become the cash cow for the company that owns it. Below are some of the devices that could someday become a part of every students backpack.
The Kindle
Amazon has different varieties of the Kindle that are targeted to different demographics with different price points. The idea is to have a Kindle that will appeal to every segment of the market. Depending on the type, it can hold approximately between 1500 to 3500 books. It can wirelessly connect to the internet and download books. The Kindle can download word documents and PDF wirelessly and so far has been the Jewel of Amazon. It has sold well and a lot of people are happy with its functions.
The Nook
The Nook is the eReader from Barnes and Noble. Like the Kindle it can also hold about 1500 books, has an excellent color touch screen that is easy on the eyes, and you can download books in seconds to your Nook. It has a unique future that allows users to be able to swap books with friends or with a network they belong to such as a book club.
The Nook also functions as an mp3 player and can be used to listen to audio books. Other futures the Nook has include making notes, highlighting pages, marking text on your pages as you read and looking up words.
The iPad
The iPad is a major game changer in the area of eReaders. With the launch of the iPad Apple put a wrench in the market for other eReaders. It is a full computer that comes as a light and flat gadget. It has a large touch screen color display, a virtual keyboard and a very user friendly interface. When you are reading a book or magazine, the display is very book like and you can actually flip the pages on the screen as you would on a physical book.
Apple has had a long relationship with education as its earlier computers like the MAC have more or less become the standard in schools for decades. They have a huge advantage over other eReader in that this product can easily sync with a student’s PC in a plug and play manner. Apple also has the advantage of the iTunes, which is a platform where books, magazines, videos, music and lectures can be easily downloaded.
This gadget connects easily to Apple App store, so that Apps available for the iPhone can be used for it. A good example is the iBook App which is the application that makes it possible for the iPad to function as an eReader. It is predicted that in the next few years, due to its cross functionality as a full fledged personal computer; the iPad will be what will be found in most students back pack.
Carrying textbooks to class each day is one of the biggest problems that students face. With the iPad, more than a truck load of textbooks can be stored in the form of eBooks, freeing up space in the students backpack and preventing back strain. The environment will also benefit as fewer trees will be chopped down to make textbooks and the issue of storage for outdated books will cease to exist.
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