When Apple announced the release of its iPad tablet in late January 2010, Reed College had just
completed a semester-long study of the Amazon Kindle DX eReader in which students and
faculty in three upper-division seminars used the Kindle to read, annotate, and discuss books and
articles for the courses.1
While the Kindle DX failed to meet faculty and student needs in several
important ways, most notably highlighting, annotation, and manipulation of texts, the study
participants were optimistic enough about the long-term potential of eReader technology to
prompt the College to continue its evaluation of emerging products.