A Next, Logical, Step

Think back to your college days, when you'd camp outside the door of the bookstore so that you'd be first in line to get your hands on a used textbook and save a few dollars.

Recall your disappointment to find that there was a new edition and there were no used books, only new ones, and at full price.

Shake off the old ways. Welcome to the modern university bookstore.

It's a Kindle rental.

Taking the next step in its plan to corner the book market, Amazon has developed a program for the college student who went off to school with a brand-new laptop and a Kindle app. College textbooks can be rented and downloaded to a Kindle or any electronic device with the right application, and the student only pays for the term of the rental.

It's far, far cheaper than buying the book. Students do, of course, have the option to buy. A book in your major is worth purchasing and keeping because there's no telling when you might need it again.

Meanwhile, the university bookstore will be reduced to selling branded merchandise and the material published specifically by the professor who likes to compile his or her own course studies.

How long might those bookstores be in business, in their large corner of the Student Union, with a big chunk of their profit margin gone?

University tuition is high and going up. Students, and their parents, are desperate for ways to save money, and the Kindle rental is just what they're looking for.

In the end, the university will most likely hike tuition a little more to make up for lost revenue at the bookstore. Fewer students will find employment stocking the shelves and they'll be scratching to make up for the lost income.

Publishers will make less money on non-printed books, and the freelancers who write the textbooks can look forward to smaller paychecks.

It's an all-win situation for Amazon. Students majoring in finance are probably buying up shares already.