The hype of the Microsoft Reader and Stephen King has pushed e-books to the forefront. While e-books are gaining popularity in the mass market, proponents say that enhanced textbooks have even greater potential to revolutionize the education market. They can add customized features such as sound and video, and they can take notes, highlight and bookmark text, use hyperlinks, and even email their professors. Professors can take notes in one of WiZeUp's textbooks and export them to the entire class. Students can also send individual notes to their study groups that will appear in the exact same place in each member's digital textbook.
Content becomes more alive and less static.
With custom publishing, professors no longer have to structure a course around a textbook. Instead, they can mix and match online material to create their own textbooks around their course ideas. Instead of waiting 3-5 years to buy new editions, students can download electronic chapters from journals, periodicals, and textbooks to their portable readers or personal computers each semester. XanEdu may begin testing its CoursePacks, CasePacks, and LitPacks on portable e-book readers as soon as this fall. With no printing, binding, inventory, or shipping costs, electronic materials may cut costs and save time for professors and students.