Project Guttenberg

I'm surfing the net and I'm suddenly realizing I could have save a couple of hundred bucks in university if I'd just gone and downloaded all the free e-books for all the classic literature I had to read. Among them, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer... just check out the top 100 list at Project Guttenberg.

The only limitation is that these can't be downloaded directly onto my Palm (as a prc. file). However, downloading a free word processor, then converting the txt. document lets me read and access them easily. And you can still bookmark important passages and make notes right on the thing. The only real problem is when the prof says "turn to page...." But if you never buy the right edition of the class books anyhow, this shouldn't be a huge deal if you want to save money.

All this makes me wonder why professors aren't encouraging students to jump into the modern age of mobility and get a cheap PDA for use on campus. I mean, spending $14 on a copy of Dracula is just ridiculous, and spending weeks looking for a used copy in Toronto ain't a walk in the park, since so many of the good used bookstores are now gone. Even used copies of easy-to-find classics in campus bookstores can run you up to $10.

So here's a business idea for any aspiring entrepeneurs out there: get your hands on older, used and refurbished handheld PDAs, load them up with free software and a collection of classics off the net, and sell them or lease them on campus for a small profit - say, $50 for the year, $100 for keeps. Just think: these kids won't have to carry three or four books at a time either. Hooray for unbulky bookbags!