It seems that Amazon’s Kindle might not be quite the godsend to students that it’s been built up to be.

It's certainly the nicer of the Kindles, but it seems it's still not up to snuff

Amazon had been pushing its line of ebook readers as a replacement for the usual mountain of books and papers that students might need to carry around. While Amazon was quick to publicise the trial at the beginning of the academic year that would see university students replacing their various paper-based texts with its larger form ebook reader, the Kindle DX. Unfortunately, it seems that that trial hasn’t gone down too well with those students with a specific interest in using the device for academic reasons, rather than simply reading for pleasure.

Word comes via Engadget that those involved in the project have been less than impressed, with Princeton deeming the Kindle DX a ‘poor excuse’ for an academic text replacement. Now it seems that Darden has been similarly damning in its review of the Kindle DX for students, with Engadget reporting that the device has trouble keeping up with the pace of lectures.

Of course, it seems likely that Amazon will still do relatively well out of the whole affair, given that fully 95% of the students involved in the trial voted that they would recommend the Kindle DX as a replacement for texts for personal use… just not for academic use.

If nothing else, this much should prove fairly welcome news to those who had worried that the arrival of ebook readers like the Kindle would herald the end of the humble paper book that has endured so long. Instead, it seems that the project to replace academic books with ebook readers has only confirmed the need for paper.