Textbooks too often hinder rather than help students because of their prohibitively expensive prices. Colleges and universities facing intense pressure to lower education expenses while increasing access, retention, and achievement now find addressing the textbook problem more and more urgent. Used textbook sales have grown dramatically over the past 15 years, due in part to the rise of online retailers such as Half.com and Chegg. Brick-and-mortar college bookstore operators like Follett and Barnes & Noble have introduced textbook rental programs. In 2010 a key provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 addressing textbook adoptions took effect, giving used-book retailers and rental programs a boost. Many colleges and universities have piloted digital solutions to make textbooks more affordable and accessible, including course- and program-specific adoption of e-texts and e-readers that offer students substantial financial savings and web-enhanced, up-to-date course materials. But rarely have these pilots been tried at open-access, community needs-focused institutions. In 2009, Daytona State College (DSC) set out to become the first such institution to pilot digital textbook solutions and then scale best practices to create campus-wide e-text adoption. Such a change could lead to the end of the textbook. This article describes DSC's two-year pilot project, a study that compared the experiences of students and faculty using four different textbook distribution models: (1) print purchase; (2) print rental; (3) e-text rental; and (4) e-text rental with e-reader device. The study has helped guide the college's plans to "go e-text" and suggests that doing so successfully depends on the following: (1) Offering faculty the option to teach with e-texts rather than requiring them to do so; (2) Ensuring that infrastructure is adequate to meet greatly increased demands; (3) Remedying the technological skill deficits inherent in an open-access student population; (4) Guaranteeing students cost savings large enough to compensate for their initial discomfort and frustration with the technology; and (5) Providing resources and support for faculty adapting their instruction to fit new technologies. (Contains 4 tables, 10 figures, 15 endnotes and 2 online resources.)