November 12th, 2008 by Robin Green

Price will probably be the greatest obstacle to overcome for eBook readers. Kindle’s price of $400 puts it out of the average online courseware user’s budget. And though Kindle’s rights protection technology is convenient in some ways, users also complain that Kindle charges for material that’s free on the internet. There are costs for accessing blogs and newspapers, as well as surcharges for uploading your own documents. 

Many online courseware students enjoy e-learning not only for the conveniences of distance learning, but also its cost-effectiveness. If eBook reader companies don’t rethink their models and systems, expensive readers coupled with costly reading material will deter not only online courseware users, but the majority of eBook reader users.