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First iBooks 2 titles met with disappointment, lack interactivity

By Nick Todorov

Published: Jan 24, 2012, 3:20 AM

Apple

First iBooks 2 titles met with disappointment, lack interactivity

Impressive, to say the least, is the attention that Apple's iBooks 2 has attracted over the past few days. Only three days after its introduction last week, an excess of 350,000 digital textbooks have been downloaded by those eager to experience education from Apple's perspective.

However, while the concept of interactive textbooks sounds great in theory, the initial real life experience appears to be disappointing to some. Slader, for example, which is an online academic community for high-school students, did a comparison between a traditional math textbook and its digital alternative. Sadly, the virtual textbook had pretty much nothing to stand out with as it was more or less identical to the paper one.

It’s akin to reading a PDF copy of the printed textbooks that exist in classrooms today. The interactive features promised are virtually nonexistent. Beyond the usual iPad features (highlighting and in-page definitions), there’s nothing new included in the publishers’ math iBooks.

A number of users rate iBooks 2 titles with one star

Apparently, despite having tools powerful enough to redefine learning through interactive content, some publishers are relying on the same old textbook experience. The lack of interactivity is underwhelming, especially when one needs to allot about a gigabyte of their storage capacity per textbook.

Individuals who have also given the new books a shot appear to be dissatisfied as well, judging by the number of one-star reviews that have started piling up. Again, the lack of interactivity is the main concern.

Has anyone of you tried any of the books in iBooks 2? Feel free to share your experience with us by dropping a comment.

source: Slader via AppleInsider

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