[oxide]

I've only just heard of the "online-pass" used game style of putting the squeeze on the used textbook market yesterday, from that post you mentioned.

My jaw is a little agape about the whole thing. online passes died in games after awhile, but it almost seems like the college textbook racket could probably get away with doing it forever.

The biggest difference between this application of it and the way it worked in games seems to be that it's designed to force your hand a little more. With games, you just got screwed out of the online features. With this, it sounds like you can't even complete the course without the online pass.