Paying for college is already a big hassle, as many people know, and causes increasing amounts of stress to build up in the young adults taking on the challenge of furthering their education. When you add the cost of living to the mix things get even tighter. Books alone can cost $100. Per book. The cost can be lowered by buying used, or using a friend's old book, but sometimes that isn't an option. One way to eliminate these costs is online books. They take up no space, you don't have to lug them around in a bag, there's no forgetting your book, because it is most likely available on your phone and on the school's library computers. I think that online books would be a great investment that would greatly benefit the lives, and wallets, of many college students.
Online books would free up space in the student's room, making it less cluttered and providing for a better study space. Less physical books would also benefit the student's health, as a college study on young children shows: http://www.montclair.edu/Detectives/curriculum/docs/4.4arts1.doc.pdf. Heavy books can cause neck and back problems early on, and will only get worse with age, (199) and let's not forget the money you save.
However, these books may not be for everyone. I have a English professor who loves to annotate and highlight and bookmark all over her books; I don't think she could ever deal with learning from an online book. I personally prefer to have a physical book over an electronic copy, which is why I am not a very avid user of products like Nooks and Kindles.(273)
This is an individual sensitive subject, but I think that the best solution is to have both options available to students so that they can make the best choice for themselves.
