Stephen Downes

This is an opinion column discussing the plan whereby "a student pays a set rate per semester, and has unlimited access to new copies of the latest books provided by that publisher." Matt Reed's main criticism is that "this publisher only carries what it publishes. It would be as if Netflix only carried content provided by Fox Studios." Moreover, the subscription model tends to promote a single-publisher monopoly at an institution (because using any other materials creates an extra expense). This invariably results in subscription price increases. There's also a longer piece in Forbes about the program (but beware the spamwall and popup video).