Big Words

[Sidoh]

Big Words is basically a textbook source aggregator.  You give it the ISBN, title, or author of the book and it gives you a list of matches.  When you select a book, it looks for it from a variety of sources and gives you a list of the ones with the best prices.

Unfortunately, I already ordered all of my books (from AbeBooks.com, which usually has the best price anyway), but I figured I'd try to save some of you who still haven't gotten their textbooks yet some trouble.

The orange hurts my eyes, but it's still a pretty neat service.

[Falcon]

I just tried it out and found out I could get my physics textbook for $150 less than offcampusbooks! I'm definitely going to be using this site from now on, thanks a lot!

[deadly7]

I get my books for free this year.haha awesome.

[Newby]

textbooktorrents anyone?

[Sidoh]

textbooktorrents anyone?

Trust me, you'll want to have hard copies of the books, even if you do find digital versions of them.

[Ender]

Sidoh, you're not the only one who supports it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waE-3W4GEvI

<heavy accent>"BigWords.com is the smartest way to find your textbooks. It's like having the whole internet in one place."</heavy accent>

[iago]

textbooktorrents anyone?

Trust me, you'll want to have hard copies of the books, even if you do find digital versions of them.

I got by with eBooks for most of my classes.

[Camel]

I had a couple of professors who expected you to show up with your textbook to prove you'd bought it, as they themselves were the author! Naturally, I didn't bother buying most of the books for my classes, since I had friends who had their own copies. There were a few exceptions, but exclusively after the book had proven its worth to me.

[MyndFyre]

I got by with eBooks for most of my classes.

I *hate* reading ebooks.

[Sidoh]

I got by with eBooks for most of my classes.

I *hate* reading ebooks.

Yeah, me too.  Seems to be way more inconvenient.  I don't mind them for quick references, but I'd hate to not have a hard copy of the book.

[Chavo]

ebook + double-sided printer + thin paper + binder = win

[Sidoh]

ebook + double-sided printer + thin paper + binder = win

Haha, that works.  I'd like that since it would seem more disposable and I'd feel less concerned about writing in it.  Where do you print them off?  I suppose it'd be way cheaper at your average copy shop than buying the book from just about anywhere, save buying international editions out of India... lol $6.  The shipping is slow as hell, though.

[Camel]

Where do you print them off?  I suppose it'd be way cheaper at your average copy shop...

Any copy shop will print and bind for you. If you take it to a big chain, they might be concerned about the legality or replicating copyrighted works.

[dark_drake]

Sweet! I ordered my textbooks a little while ago from Amazon. It looks like the prices were similar, barring the international editions. I still probably paid a little more, but it beats buying them at the university.

[Sidoh]

Sweet! I ordered my textbooks a little while ago from Amazon. It looks like the prices were similar, barring the international editions. I still probably paid a little more, but it beats buying them at the university.

Yeah, for sure.  I've gotta say doing it through the university is noticeably more convenient, but not $500 more convenient.  There, it's simply a matter of logging in and clicking a button.  Running around the internet is a slight hassle.

[dark_drake]

Yeah, for sure.  I've gotta say doing it through the university is noticeably more convenient, but not $500 more convenient.  There, it's simply a matter of logging in and clicking a button.  Running around the internet is a slight hassle.

Well, your university might be more convenient, here it's still a pain in the ass. Go to the bookstore's website. Go through a few menus, find class, get book. At that time, I've got the ISBN, so I see no reason to click the purchase button. That, or I could go to the bookstore and find the engineering section, my classes, and pick them up there. Wyoming seems to be way behind the times on things like this.

[Sidoh]

Ah.  Well, makes the efforts of buying them online even more worthwhile.

Here, you log in with your student username/password and they pull your schedule from the university system, find which books the professors are using and compile them all for you.  Then, they put all of the books in a box with your name on it and you go in and pick it up.  They charge your student account for what they call added convenience, but I'm sure it's just so you have less of a chance of  knowing how much you're getting ripped off.

[truste1]

thanks for this sidoh, I saved over $100 ordering them online instead of getting them in the bookstore like I had planned.

that site has some problems. Sometimes the price they advertised wasn't the price I was able to buy it for, sometimes the site the linked too couldn't find the book. I got screwed because one book was available for $35 and then I went to buy it and it was gone or something so I had to pay like $70.

[iago]

I got by with eBooks for most of my classes.

I *hate* reading ebooks.

Yeah, me too.  Seems to be way more inconvenient.  I don't mind them for quick references, but I'd hate to not have a hard copy of the book.

Well, in most of my classes I only used them for quick reference..

The nice thing about comp sci is that everything you need to know is online and free. The textbooks are only really useful for the questions/exercises/quick reference. At least in my experience.

[truste1]

yeah, I saved $120.