No, it’s not what you think. This new company isn’t about used digital textbooks but used digital music -- but could the idea for one be used for the other? (At that statement, I am sure there is more than one blanching publisher out there). The online company Redigi is creating a marketplace for pre-owned digital music. The company’s proprietary cloud service technology allows for legal transfer of used digital music to a secondary market.
This idea was discussed several years ago for textbooks but did not get any traction as the timing was not right and the technology not quite ready. Perhaps, the music industry will shed light on the success of this concept to the publishing world. It is perfectly foreseeable that a student would want to buy a digitally books with underlines and notes on them if the used digital could be sold that way. Again, it's all about value and choices for students. What's old could be new again.
