Earlier this week, I got to write about a pretty cool app that is bound to put the whole “But my back hurts from carrying all my textbooks” argument to rest for college students. Thanks to Amazon, students can now say goodbye to sore shoulders as Amazon has introduced a new iPhone app, specifically designed to address this problem.

The Amazon Student app, which is available for iPhone and iPod Touch, boasts a variety of coed-friendly features such as instant price checks and free two-day shipping; the ability to scan barcodes, check prices and compare prices on textbooks and everything else they buy; and to turn their used stuff into Amazon.com Gift Cards.

For those who might have suppressed the memory of waiting in line at the college campus bookstore to buy the million 30-pound textbooks, let me refresh your memory. You schlep down to the bookstore – that is if you can even find it if you are a freshman – and then you face the daunting task of figuring out why your ENG 101 books are illogically located between ECO 450 and ENG 202. Then, if you actually manage to find “Jane Eyre” wedged between “Emma” and “Romeo and Juliet” (really though, why do people not alphabetize?!), you have to figure out how you are going to walk back with your 15 books (because who has a car?).

This app is the perfect example of how some technology is successfully wedging itself into the college realm. With the Amazon Student app, college students can now secure the semester's reading material right from their iOS devices and have them delivered to their doors, all without ever having to visit that dreaded bookstore.

And, for those students who brave the bookstore and its cost prohibitive pricing, they can scan barcodes to check and compare prices on their textbooks to make sure they are really getting that “phenomenal deal” that the bookstore claims.

And the gravy on the cake? For those students who decide to buy the textbooks, instead of selling them back at the end of the semester to receive $20 for the $150 book you bought, they can sell their books to Amazon and receive Amazon.com Gift Cards, something I think we all will agree is worth more.

A time effective, body-friendly, price efficient way to do back-to-school college book shopping. I can feel my shoulders and wallet relaxing already.