Inkling textbooks have edition, page and figure numbers that correspond to physical textbooks. So when a professor instructs you to "Open your books to page 263 and view figure 2-A," you can follow his directions.
Inkling would like to replace traditional textbooks, which would eliminate coordination issues. "We don't want to be constrained by the linear structure of the book, we'd rather be building things that are hierarchical and exploratory. Inkling is built to handle the future."
Updates are free. Once you buy an Inkling book, MacInnis says, "it's always up to date. It's always the latest and the greatest, even if you bought it two years ago. Nobody has to worry about numbers because everyone is always in sync. I think the beauty of it is that it just magically keeps everybody in the world on the same page."
Inkling books are generally less expensive than physical textbooks. To help further manage costs, Inkling offers the ability to purchase chapters individually, usually for $2.99 each. If a professor isn't going to cover every chapter in the textbook, you don't need to buy those chapters.
One downside to Inkling textbooks, as with all ebooks, is the inability to resell the books. "Students don't get upset because they're paying less for the content to begin with," MacInnis said. "People purchase the content they need and their access to the content is perpetual but not transferable."
Inkling offers books in which professors have set up their own set of notes and highlights for the class so students can follow along. These books offer "both peer-to-peer collaboration among students and the interaction that the students get with the professor and with experts," MacInnis claims.
