I am taking an on-line course starting this week, and tried to buy the book today. When I saw it was available in an 'ebook version' I assumed that meant PDF (groan) and thought nothing of it. But when I went on-line today, the three options were:
1) Just a print book
2) Just an 'access code' for the 'electronic version'
3) The 'access code' plus the print book
And there was no way to remove the shipping charge if you only bought the 'access code' whatever that is
So does this mean that the 'electronic version' is probably not a downloadable ebook file but rather some sort of secure website I would not be able to access once the course is done and my 'access code' expires? If so, am I likely to get text I can copy/paste into a Word document for my $39.95 plus shipping (silly! if they are going to offer an e-only option, I should not have to pay a shipping charge!)? Or do you think that 'access code' means they have it so tightly locked up that all I get is viewing and they won't let me copy/paste?
The print plus 'access code' is only $20 more. I very seldom use coursebooks again (this is not my first on-line course) but IF all I am going to get with the 'access code' is annoying webpages I can't download or read off-line, that's not going to be much good to me. Anybody have any experience with this kind of system? What kind of 'electronic version' am I reasonably looking at here? Worth it to spring for the dead tree copy too?