Pricy books got you down? Daze compares textbooks, coursebooks and Amazon’s Kindle.

Ahh, buying textbooks. Whether standing in line at the Cornell Store, lugging your books back to your dorm or apartment, or explaining to your parents how you maxed out Cornell Card before school even started, it is overall a very unpleasant process. All said and done, if I had purchased all of my books at the Cornell Store this semester, it would have run me $404.14 (plus medical bills after I break my back carrying said books back to Collegetown). To make matters worse, one is faced with the general unpleasantness that comes with out of stock books and the inevitably rude service at the Cornell Store. Ouch. — $404.14

Instead, this year I followed in the footsteps of my father (and many other middle-aged readers) and purchased an Amazon Kindle. Stay with me here. The Kindle cost me $299, and all of my books for semester — buying Kindle versions when available — cost $217.02. While it is a big up front expense, the books are instantly downloaded and all available on a single, lightweight device the size of a thin paperback. Additionally, my books (excluding the Kindle cost) were $187.12 cheaper — multiply this over eight semesters, and you save $1,496.96 (or $1,197.96 after the cost of the Kindle). That can purchase a LOT of beer. Not to mention all of the trees you save and how trendy, er, environmentally conscious the Kindle is! Seriously freshman, do I have to convince you any more? — $1197.96 (money saved over eight semesters)

Unfortunately, as much as I love my Kindle, I can’t buy Cornell Course Packets for my new favorite device. And when these (bullshit) course packets run me $89.50 a pop (not even joking), it can get a bit pricey. This is all on top of the fact that the damn things are a million pages long and weigh about 10 pounds each. Honestly, course packets are egregious and terrible and all of the bad things that you can imagine. — $89.50 and a lot of dead trees

The Verdict: Now, this comparison is a bit of wishful thinking on my part — but just give me a damn PDF! We will save trees, it will save me from carrying those heavy course packets, and it is a lot more cost efficient to have my downloaded course documents on my Kindle (or my laptop or whatever). It’s free plus there are minimal copyright costs. Unfortunately not a real option — yet.