How To Use Your CourseSmart.com Coupon

Step 1. After you have added all of the materials to your cart sign in and head to the checkout screen. If you don’t have an account you will have to create one. There is also an option to connect with your FaceBook profile which can make things more convenient. Grab a coupon and copy it with Edit >> Copy.

Step 2. Paste your coupon into the box on the checkout screen. The image below will help you locate the box.

Step 3. After you paste the code into the box click “apply coupon” and note your discount now being applied.

Congratulations, with a coupon you’ve got more beer money!

CourseSmart.com Review

An exhaustive review of online book renting companies will not be complete without taking a look at companies who rent eBooks and eTextbooks. In this regard, CourseSmart.com is definitely a viable option and should be seriously considered by those who believe in the benefits of eBooks over traditional paper versions: weightlessness, or at least the compactness of a thousand books fitting into one eReader, the extra benefit of reading materials without having to cut trees for paper, and best of all the lifetime availability of eBooks as they do not have the inherent vulnerability of paper and other printed matter.

We use the same 5 critical metrics for rating online textbook rental companies namely Key Features and Company Strengths, Ease-of-Use, Pricing, Customer Support, and Shipping. Since there aren’t many eBook and eTextbook renters out there, we skip the part where we normally compare competitors versus each other and instead we’ll settle for an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of CourseSmart and hope the analysis will provide sufficient grounds for the end-user to come up with an intelligent decision when renting eBooks. As usual, we leave the judgment part to the informed reader preferring instead to be content with giving the facts and summarizing the inherent wisdom in the collective blogging community as the various internet forums that discuss online book renting concerns.

Key Features and Strengths
Firstly, the preference of eBooks over conventional covers is already a plus for any techy-oriented student. Not only does the choice of eBooks liberate one’s bag from the unceasing burden of heavy books, it is likewise a step in the right direction for those looking to conserve trees and slow down tree-cutting for paper consumption. On the flip side, one would need a kick-ass eReader such as Amazon’s Kindle or better yet, Apple iPad where you can store all your downloads and e-rents without cause or concern (although it has to be mentioned that not all rented eBooks are downloadable). If nothing else, a laptop or netbook will always prove to be a trusty companion on your late-night study binges, on top of providing other game distractions whenever the study session starts to get too boring. But hey, we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves here.

The most important feature of any book renter, electronic or not, is always the size of the available selection and in its infancy, the eBook business has yet to keep up with conventional libraries. CourseSmart.com offers a varied selection that will most often than not meet the normal student’s needs but a few titles and editions might be missing here and there rendering the collection not fully complete. Still, there is sufficient evidence to believe that CourseSmart.com offers a serviceable library enough to probably steal a few customers from established players BookRenter.com and Chegg.com and in this regard, the presence of a new competitor in the market is definitely a plus.

Our Score: 4/5

Ease-of-Use
There is one thing with books that will forever remain a privilege of the paper variety and most likely unreachable by digital ones – ease-of-use. Skipping the website ease-of-use aspect, which is pretty standard and self-explanatory, a more pressing concern among eBook customers is the ease-of-use of eBook downloads and the corresponding proprietary software that oftentimes come with the download. In some cases, limitations inherent in the software do not allow one to copy beyond more than one paragraph, making notes-taking and transferring eBook sections a messy and time-consuming endeavor. Printing functions might also be limited by what is allowed in the software leaving non-techy students to mope and scratch their heads with all the added complexity. A lot of other issues have been reported by various users and there are too many to enumerate here. We leave it to the online eBook renting industry to figure out the kinks and make it more user-friendly as both the business and the technology matures. We’d say, a couple more years and this should no longer be an issue; but for now, and if you can afford to lug some extra weight around, we would advise users to get the conventional textbooks. One can never overstress the inherent simplicity in turning the paper pages one after the other.

Our Score: 2/5

Pricing
Title-for-title and edition-for-edition, eBooks are cheaper than the traditional copies by about 50%, which is to say it is comparable in pricing to traditional books for rent which currently go out at 60% off of the original price listing. One can always attribute the 10% price difference to the gains you get by not having to carry anything extra, but that’s just us being optimistic. In the end, 50% off of the list price is still a pretty respectable savings and certainly worth the look if you are searching for the weightless source of infinite wisdom, or in this case, knowledge.

Our Score: 4/5

Customer Service Support
This is where things get dicey for CourseSmart as thus far, most of the feedback that we have gathered from the internet forums and blogs point to a general frustration over how Course Smart handles customer concerns. The standard phone and email support plus Twitter and Facebook connectivity are available but the general concern of past customers is in the inability of customer service agents to adequately respond to raised issues. Perhaps, as the technology evolves, so will the understanding of software quirks and limitations and with it more believable and workable answers by customer service agents. Until then, our offer for the conventional option still stands.

Our Score: 2/5

Shipping
If one is to not carry books around, that means no shipping is required. All transactions happen online; as such you get your material instantly which is probably the best benefit that eBooks can offer better than weightlessness and tree conservation. One has to remember, however, that since these materials are just rented and not purchased, all viewing privileges come with an expiration date depending on the rental terms that you selected at the onset. If one is determined to go the eBook route, extensive familiarization of the guidelines and fine-print is necessary before finally confirming the purchase and this especially applies to the terms pertaining to copying, pasting and just the viewing privilege in general. Take note that no shipping does not mean you are off-the-hook from all obligations as the company will most likely exact responsibility through other means such as copyright laws and sharing limitations. Because you got to college, we assume you’re a little more aware of these things that no further explanation is required.

Our Score: 5/5

Summary
While we love the promise of eBooks replacing the conventional dust gatherers on our shelves, we believe that the time for full eBook domination is still years away. CourseSmart.com is leading the way to the eBook future but right now it’s not there yet. We advise due caution when renting books and whenever applicable, our instinct tells us to go with the proven players where you are most likely to get your money’s worth, or if not then at least have people to talk to so you can get full explanation as to where it all went wrong. If you do decide to go with the service than be sure you use one of our CourseSmart Coupon Codes before placing your order. Its a quick and easy way to save extra cash that shouldn’t be skipped.