Tis the season for full page color inserts featuring college dorm room accessories, and discounts on the requisite PC's. Just announced for fall classes, students fortunate enough to be taking courses with McGraw Hill textbooks will get an additional option for buying their books--the first digital textbooks that really make sense. The initial attraction for cash starved students is the price--approximately half the cost of the print version, reflecting lower distribution and production costs. But even more importantly, the Zinio book technology is next generation digital books, reflecting the ability to incorporate multi-media elements, web links, notes and full text search capabilities into an eye-pleasing page flipping format that looks exactly like the print version, down to the page numbers.

Kudos to McGraw-Hill for their forward thinking--unlike other digital textbook programs, there is no expiration date on purchased electronic books, and pages can be printed. Purchased books can be accessed both online and offline, easing the problems of Web access and the occasional PC crash or theft. As adjunct faculty member teaching a distance learning class in online searching, I would highly recommend this quality of digital textbook if it were available as an alternative to my students, particularly those who do not have access to a physical bookstore or who reside overseas. McGraw-Hill has the advantage of first hand success with digital versions of their business publications, so understands the opportunity in these new markets. Now to convince more publishers that digital books really do make sense, from both a marketing and a college experience!