This one is easy. Most e-text currently available are mere DRM'd to death copies of the paper text. They have none of the good features the electronic format, (

This one is easy. Most e-text currently available are mere DRM'd to death copies of the paper text. They have none of the good features the electronic format, (you usually can't copy and paste [1]). They cost nearly the same, in some cases more (I use the same text for two consecutive courses, which would require two rental terms, increasing the cost beyond the cost of the paper version). Students are right to avoid these things. They don't even need to have passed their first Econ to figure this one out. As far as my own courses go, almost every single exam I give is open-book open-notes. Problematic for the e-text version is that I don't allow tablets, phones, laptops or other potential communication devices during exams. I'd love to be able to sort this problem out, so I could get more creative with exams, but currently, I think it makes it too easy to cheat. [1] Of course, c&p-ing huge swathes of text is normally not a great technique for note-taking. But, I think it's perfectly acceptable for things that were only ever intended as reference material to begin with (pictures, charts, graphs, timing diagrams, schematics, etc).