Well look at that... Indeed they are! I stand corrected. Thanks!

Of course there's still the problem of the location numbers not matching the numbers in an actual textbook (I'll grant that this may be an 'obsolete' issue with the better .pdf support- only time will tell). What I can say with certainty is that if this is not addressed in the DX, then it will provide difficulties in 'compatibility' between those reading traditional books, and those on a Kindle. I've already run into this problem on several occasions when trying to reference the same material on the page and on a Kindle at the same time.

With the K2 there is no numbering aside from the locations, so if I want to tell my buddy to refer to a page in the book we're both referencing, the best I can do is offer him the chapter I'm reading, a guesstimate on the page the passage would be on, and the text I'm reading as a guidepost. Kludgy and slow at best. Never mind the problem of correctly citing something from a book being read in a Kindle in any sort of way that a non-Kindle user can use to find the same passage.

Admittedly (as with my points 2 and 3 as well), Amazon may still be working on different ways to make the processes more intuitive, so YMMV with the DX, but as of today I think my main point still stands... These issues make the Kindle a difficult device to use effectively for any sort of serious study beyond simply reading text.

People who say the DX will be great for textbooks have clearly never used a Kindle. I am an owner of both the K1 and the K2 and there are many things that it does exceedingly well. Unfortunately the things that it does NOT do well are exactly the things that students need to work both quickly and efficiently. What things? Well for starters:

1. Page numbers. The Kindle doesn't have page numbers like a traditional book... Instead it uses page numbering system that is fluid based upon font size. Using the smallest font you might be at location 3642, while using the largest font may mean (though you're at the exact same spot in the book) you could be at location 5681. Confusing? You bet. There is currently NO WAY to specify an absolute page number for the Kindle and no way to sync pages to a paper-based book. This is annoying, but manageable when using the Kindle to read a novel (or even a non-fiction book), but with a textbook the minute a professor asks the class to refer to page 542, the Kindle user is screwed.

2. Index and Table of Contents. With a 'real' textbook if you need to flip to the ToC or index to find something it may take a few seconds initially, but you stick a finger in the page and flipping back and forth is easy. Find yourself flipping to a section or the ToC often? Stick a post-it, or even a pencil in there and you can flip back and forth what amounts to instantly. With the Kindle it takes a second to reset the page every single time you change pages. Flip to the ToC = 1 second. Flip back = another second. Don't know quite what you're looking for, or have a lot of different pages to check through? Those seconds really start to add up. God forbid you have to navigate to a link in the middle of a page, 'cause the 5-way pointer works, but not quickly.

3. Highlights and note taking. Both highlighting and note taking on the Kindle are rudimentary at best. Highlighting in a real book = grabbing a pen and swiping. You can even use different colors to mean different things- instant metaprocessing! Can't do that with a Kindle.

Highlighting with a Kindle = opening the main menu and selecting 'highlight.' Then navigate to the first word of the section you want to highlight and click the 5-way-switch. Then navigate to the last word of the section you want to highlight and click the 5-way-switch. 'Just like that,' you've highlighted something. It's the same procedure to make a note, with the added 'bonus' that you now get to use... the keyboard. Yay. Imagine taking notes on your cellphone... 'Cause that's what writing a note on the Kindle is like. And forget about math or hard sciences... You'll never write that new equation the prof just scrawled on the board in your Kindle. Donâ(TM)t even bother trying. Finally, if you ever want to later review a note, you need to navigate to a little supertext number on the section you highlighted in order to even see what you wrote. Forget about scanning the margins for something you wrote during a study session...

Paradigm shifting devices are great when the paradigm being shifted to makes things easier and/or better. The Kindle is a positive paradigm shift for those of us who read a lot and want a more seamless (and cheaper) way to make purchases from Amazon.com. On the other hand, I don't see a positive shift for students who want to use the Kindle with their textbooks... itâ(TM)s just too cumbersome and slow. Fail.

It seems like one of the major relevant questions that is overlooked when considering the topic of plagiarism is whether the writing of a 'traditional' paper is the proper vehicle for testing a students absorption of the topic at hand. In reflecting about my time as an undergrad, I can't think of a single paper I wrote that didn't boil down to busy-work. Complicated and time consuming sure, but busy-work none-the-less.

The reason is actually pretty simple... until a student is at a level where they are being asked to produce original thought on a topic (masters or Ph.D. level work, depending on the discipline being studied, or for many majors a student will never be asked to produce original thought on a topic) a large amount of the work will amount to creative regurgitation of existing thought anyway.

At that point one has to ask if the professor isn't just employing the wrong testing technique to ensure that learning is taking place (which is, usually, the ultimate goal anyway)... For example, I had several professors who skipped term papers entirely and simply made a large chunk of their 'live' tests essay based.

It would be relatively difficult to plagiarize much of anything when a student is being forced to write about the topic at length and off-the-cuff. At that point you either know what you're talking about (you learned what you were supposed to learn), or your answers suck and it becomes pretty obvious that you haven't learned the material.

Obviously for every rule there will be exceptions, but I'd be willing to bet that a very high majority of papers that are being written in any given university really amount to wasted effort for both the student and the professor anyway...