The most popular gadget this year is the ebook reader.  Dozens of companies are coming out with their own version of these electronic reading devices and offering many different options.  Most of these digital readers are compact and the concentration of ebook manufacturers has been on converting many novels and documents into formats to fit their particular models.  However some ebook reader manufacturers have chosen a more revolutionary market, that of using ebook readers for school.

There are many benefits for students using ebook readers.  The most obvious of which are costs and load reduction.  One of the major expenses for college students today is textbooks.  Hundreds of dollars are spent each semester on their purchase.  This cost would be greatly reduced if textbooks were digitally converted to ebook format.  A student could then download these etextbooks to their computers.  For portability these same etextbooks could now be downloaded to ebook readers, which the student could easily carry from class to class without much effort. The present supply of ebook readers, however, are not properly equipped to handle the needs of students.  Modifications in size, and navigational options would have to be made.

Amazon.com's CEO Jeff Bezos realized this when he unveiled the Kindle DX.  The Kindle DX is the latest version of the Kindle ebook reader family.   It still has all the improvements that were made to the earlier models, but its display screen was made much larger for the viewing of magazines and newspapers, and is also perfect for the viewing textbook content.  Amazon, in connections with several textbook publishers, will be converting textbooks into downloadable formats for use with their Kindles.  Universities like Princeton, Arizona State and Reed College will be running pilot programs with the Kindle DX this fall.

Increased display screen size is an important first step in meeting the student's needs, but some further improvements are required.  More navigational options and search functions are a must since these ebook readers will be carrying many different textbooks with thousands of pages of content.  Locating and being able to display information quickly is a must.  Also better bookmarking and note taking capabilities would be a tremendous help to the student.  eBook readers with color displays are starting to come out into the market.  This would be of great benefit in displaying charts, diagrams and drawings.  However as of now that option would be to expensive for the normal student.

At present the Kindle DX is a good start for student use.  Page Logic is also introducing a wide screen display with their ebook reader.  The competition will surely increase and the technology can only improve.  It is only a matter of time before we will be able to find these amazing tools in every student's backpack.