Forget ships and parrots, pirates have adapted with the times.
Piracy Web sites now offer more than the latest music singles and stolen movies. Entire textbooks can be downloaded from file-sharing sites.
The New York Times reported Sunday that PirateBay.org posts e-books for sharing and the site claims it has yet to remove any files despite notifications of copyright infringement.
While we don’t condone illegal downloading, the Web site is an example of how far some will go to combat exorbitant textbook prices.
In addition to tuition, students can plan on spending about $400 a semester on textbooks -- a heavy load to bear on a college budget. Used books can be purchased at a lower cost, but with publishing companies issuing new editions each year and professors requiring students to purchase bundles of books, it’s getting harder to find affordable ways to stay up to date with learning material.
What we need is an economical and ethical way to access textbooks. The solution doesn’t just lie in lowering the price, though. Churning out new editions each semester to combat profit loss as students reuse old books is unfair and unpractical. If the material in the text is substantially altered, issuing a new edition is warranted, but doing so to get money from cash-strapped students isn’t.
Publishers need to find more sensible ways of updating text – perhaps selling only the pages or chapters that have been updated rather than the entire book.
Not only that, but books must not be sold in bundles. Often the accompanying novels or smaller books shrink-wrapped together can be found at discount stores such as Half Price Books for a fraction of the cost; however, students are forced to buy the whole package to access one book they can’t find anywhere else. While these bundles are lauded as more economical, a savvy student could find a good percentage of the material far more cheaply.
These bundles also usually include a course companion or study book put together by a professor. Purchasing these marginally helpful guides should be an option, not a requirement.
To get the most out of a course, students must have access to up-to-date textbooks, discs and videos required. Illegal downloads aren’t the answer, but clicking a button can be pretty appealing when facing the idea of shelling out hundreds of dollars.
