If you believe the results of a new survey put out by the National Association of College Stores (NACS), college students are mostly showing the middle finger to e-books and e-book readers.

The NCAS, which has a vested interested in print books, says a survey conducted by its OnCampus Research division in early October, found that only 13% of college students had purchased an electronic book of any kind during the previous three months. And of that percentage, slightly over half (56%) said the primary purpose of their e-book purchase was required course materials for class.

Few Own e-Readers
The NCAS folks say that students overwhelmingly are reading e-books on a computer rather than a dedicated e-reading device. It seems 92% of students indicated they currently do not own an e-reader, and of those, 59% said they don’t plan to purchase one in the next three months.

Other findings of the NACS survey:
* About 77% of the students who said they recently purchased an e-book indicated that they used a laptop computer or Netbook to read it.
* Desktop computer was the second most popular choice (30%), followed at 19% by a smartphone, such as an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android.
* Another 19% reported using an e-reader like a Kindle or Nook.
* A tablet computer, such as an iPad, was the least common reading device used by students, selected by only 4% of respondents.

Besides the dedicated e-book readers like Kindle and Nook and multi-purpose devices like Apple iPad, other vendors including Samsung are gearing up to launch tablets that can double as e-book readers.