On the contrary. The text book industry views 2nd hand text books as theft.
Currently they do everything in their power to devalue 2nd hand sales, such as pointlessly churning the edition every year or two or even integrating course notes and syllabus for a specific professor. Once they go to e-readers there will be no 2nd hand sales and they can stop wasting resources on pointless editing and profit skyrockets!
Until MIT OpenCourseWare puts them all out of business. Good riddance.
On the contrary. The text book industry views 2nd hand text books as theft.
Legitimately so, effectively. 2nd-hand sales net them nothing. That said, it frees up more money for the person who was the early-adopter, who is more likely to buy more of the same, but that's not money "in their hands".
That said, making new versions each year is effectively stealing from students who are already strapped for cash. I'd argue that's less ethical than any stretch involving 2nd-hand sales. If they'd put out good books, students would keep them (I keep my good ones), and encourage others to buy them, increasing their sales. * gasp * unthinkable!
Currently they do everything in their power to devalue 2nd hand sales, such as pointlessly churning the edition every year or two or even integrating course notes and syllabus for a specific professor. Once they go to e-readers there will be no 2nd hand sales and they can stop wasting resources on pointless editing and profit skyrockets!
Until MIT OpenCourseWare puts them all out of business. Good riddance.