$140 is, unfortunately, not out of line for a textbook in many fields.
http://www.amazon.com/Civil-Procedur...4349730&sr=8-7
Although it's far from the only thing that's expensive about an education.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that etextbooks are tightly DRM'd; if they weren't, a huge percentage of students would pirate them. (Claiming: (1) it's too expensive; (2) publishers are greedy; (3) professors are greedy; (4) universities are greedy; (5) university bookstores are greedy; and (6) everyone but me is greedy...I deserve free books).
But I think I'd rather pay more for a paper textbook that I could mark up or sell back - I think we typically got 25% of the new price, and the used book was sold for 75% of the new price.