NOOKstudy--I wish I had had this when I was in school...

During the last month Barnes & Noble made available a new, free, downloadable service called NOOKstudy.  I stumbled upon it earlier this week while downloading some free ebooks for my Nook.  The name is slightly deceptive (in my opinion) because NOOKstudy is not a feature for the Nook device (at least not yet).  It's a download for PC or Mac that provides access to your Barnes & Noble ebook library on the computer, and more specifically, it provides access to certain etextbook services.  In the FAQ section, B&N claims that this is because the computer is the most universally owned student electronic, making the PC/Mac the natural vehicle for the first incarnation of the NOOKstudy service.  I can imagine that DRM, etextbook formating for a smaller screen, and syncing might be issues if this service were to extend to ereader devices in the future, but I bet that B&N is already looking into it.

NOOKstudy differentiates itself from the regular downloadable Nook applications with several polished services, and most notably, textbook DRM.  Through NOOKstudy, you can purchase etextbooks that can be downloaded to 2 computers associated with your account, or rent the textbooks for cheaper than the purchase price for the semester that you are taking the class.  This probably works the same way that checking out an ebook from the library works--you get a digital download with an expiration date, and after that date, you can no longer access the book.  A further difference between the NOOKstudy application and the regular Nook app is the ability to highlight text, insert digital notes, import your own documents (think class syllabus, notes taken during class in a Word .doc, or downloadable handouts created by the professor), and group documents using tags or by course.  The system is fully search enabled, and offers features like being dictionary or online lookup services from within the application.

I really wish I would have had this during all my years in college.  I have literal stacks of textbooks and notebooks in my basement that I have to search by memory to find what I'm looking for, and it would be so much easier to have it all inside my PC, where I could search my class notes like I search my email!  As a student of library science, this level of control to digitally organize and search pleases me.

Also, the ability to rent certain textbooks digitally would have been nice, because some textbooks really weren't worth the purchase price to use for one semester.  I have to wonder if some universities will fight this transition to digital tooth and nail because it's likely to put university bookstores out of business.  For example, you don't get a resale value on a digital rental.  I had professors in college who authored their own textbooks and then released new editions every few years so students would be required to buy the book new every semester (heavily devaluing the used resale value), thereby keeping their royalty checks up.  If students can now rent that textbook for $50 instead of buying it for $200, some of these money hungry, empty-student-wallet-squeezing, arrogant professors might decide to not release the book in digital form to support their profits.  As a student, if I saw this happening, I would elect to take the class from someone else--when I'm already paying 10-20K a year in tuition, I shouldn't have to buy an over-priced textbook filled with information I can find online that I will probably crack twice over the course of the semester (midterms and finals).

I do have one question/concern for Barnes & Noble regarding this service, and this has to do with renting vs. buying.  If I rent a textbook, and take notes throughout, would I lose access to my notes once the rental expires?  Also, what if I rent a book, and then like it so much that I decide to buy it--will the program automate the process of moving all of my notes and highlights from the rental file to the purchased one, or do I have to do that myself?

One thing I might suggest to B&N to include in this service is academic file sharing, similar to the LendMe service they have on the Nook devices, where you can digitally loan a file to a friend for a limited amount of time.  There's another free research aid that I have used a lot at work called Mendeley, which works kind of like iTunes for your PDFs.  You can upload your PDFs and tag them, do full text search across your library, create research groups to share what you are reading and learning, and even upload them to the cloud to have online access to your PDFs anywhere.  It's spiffy, and the base level membership is free (you pay more for more online storage, but I have never needed more than the basic level).  It would be very neat if B&N would incorporate this type of group sharing and collaboration into their NOOKstudy, thereby making it a social learning tool--this type of service might be able to overtake online learning systems like Blackboard.

Looking forward to future improvements on this product, B&N.  Keep up the good work!
Alula