Princeton Students Don't Like Free Kindles

Students in a pilot program aren't sure the digital reading devices are better than plain old books.

When Princeton University administrators brokered a deal to have 50 students receive free Kindle DXs preloaded with their course material for the semester, they were hopeful students would see the devices as useful, sustainable academic tools. Instead, most of the students who received free E-readers say they're dissatisfied with the device and find it inconvenient to use, the Daily Princetonian reports.

"I hate to sound like a Luddite, but this technology is a poor excuse of an academic tool," says senior Aaron Horvath. "It's clumsy, slow, and a real pain to operate."

Horvath added that using the Kindle has forced him to change the way he studies and digests reading material.

"Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes, and other marks representing the importance of certain passages—not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs," he says. "All of these things have been lost, and if not lost, they're too slow to keep up with my thinking and the 'features' have been rendered useless."

While some professors, like Harriet Flower, find the Kindle beneficial because it is easier on her eyes, professor Stan Katz wants to wait and see if he can teach and students can learn as effectively using a Kindle.

"I require a very close reading of the texts. I encourage students to mark up texts, and . . . I expect them to underline and to highlight texts," Katz says. "The question is whether you can do them as effectively with a Kindle as with paper."