The results are out and unfortunately Amazon Kindle fails short of traditional textbooks. Less than two weeks after 50 students received the free Kindle DX e-readers as part of the Princeton University Kindle e-reader pilot program announced last May, most of them said they were not satisfied and uncomfortable with the device.
It’s not secret that students make a holy mess of their books, annotating, dog-earing, doodling in the margins and none of that is easy on the Kindle, or any other e-book at the moment. Sure, if all you need to do is read plain-text book, it’s handy.
Further complaints include the fact that the lack of concrete page numbers make citing sources a huge pain in the ass and the fact that you need to charge up the battery for it to work.
Students taking part in the pilot program have all sorts of complaints about the device, mostly centering around the fact that it’s a huge pain to take notes and “interact” with the text. While some complimented the idea of having a huge amount of text in one small device, others say the experience isn’t as easy and “organic” as working with paper.
While the Kindle may hinder the reading experience of some, others may benefit from the device’s unique electronic display.
Tags: amazon kindle, annotations, kindle dx fails campus test, princeton university