Complaints about the high cost of college textbooks grow but are now evoking new responses link here. Randall Stross, professor of business at San Jose State University, writes that Pirate Bay and other torrent sites have challenged the publishers, forcing them to explore new business models or lose most of the income from the copyright. The alternative of choice seems to be a gated site charging a fee and supplemented by the sale of additional teaching materials not included in the text, so the copyright produces income, but less than the sale of hard copies. While it will lower the high cost of accessing text material, it still doesn't beat free, so don't expect the torrent sources to dry up completely.