Cheap College Textbooks

As the world of publishing evolves, so do the textbook providers. Barnes & Noble launched a textbook rental service in the fall of 2010. A popular feature is the Nook Study application, which lets you download a trial version of the book and pay for 180-day rental periods. But reviews on sites such as Consumerist and a Barnes & Noble Nook forum indicate start up has been a bit rocky: some students report problems accessing their digital rentals and then encountering indifferent tech support. Chegg.com, one of our picks for best cheap college textbooks website, has also created a digital textbook service called Kno, which claims to offer 70,000 digital textbooks for as much as half off. Kno lets you download the book to your computer, and there's also an iPad app. Other new sites focused on electronic textbooks include CafeScribe, which lets you download the MyScribe app to your PC, and VitalSource, which lets you access your textbooks online or with a smart phone.

There are also more developments in the app department for iPad, Kindle, and other e-reader devices. CourseSmart is a free app for the iPad that gives you access to your e-textbooks. Reviews have been decent, although students say the highlighter feature doesn't work well. PC World reports that Amazon also offers e-textbook titles for the iPad and other Apple devices in addition to the Kindle. Textbook rentals for the Kindle are now available through Amazon, as well. The growing array of options is certainly good for student consumers, but e-textbook technology is still evolving and for now, at least, you're bound to a certain e-reader format and platform for downloading and accessing texts; in other words, a Nook takes downloads only from Barnes & Noble and Kno meshes only with the iPad. If the e-reader malfunctions, you might not be able to access your book.

In the meantime, traditional textbook sites still rule and you need to know which offer the best cheap deals on college textbooks. Our research found that Chegg.com and Textbooks.com deserve the highest grades: Chegg.com is big in the textbook rental market but also buys and sells textbooks, while Textbooks.com stands out for its low prices and large inventory. ECampus.com earns an above-average ranking, in part due to its e-book service. We gave failing grades to Textbookx.com for its high prices and poor customer service and to Bookbyte.com based on student reports of problems in the book buy-back department.

Some useful things to know before beginning the hunt for the best cheap college textbooks: Sites that charge higher prices do so because the books are in better condition. With sites that rent or sell used books at lower prices, you run the risk of getting worn or slightly damaged copies. Some of the cheaper sites also specify that they cannot guarantee that supplemental materials that came with the original book, such as CDs, will be included with the used version. Second-, third-, or fourth-hand textbooks are just that. But for many frugal students, the dollar savings more than compensate for a surfeit of yellow highlighting and assorted doodles.