Purpose: This paper attempts to examine perceived benefits, barriers, and students’ reactions towards e-textbooks.

Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on a survey of 105 undergraduate students in California. Undergraduate students were selected as the subjects of this study, because they are heavy users of textbooks for their course work.

Findings: E-textbooks will complement our existing choices rather than substitute printed textbooks. While e-textbooks offer a number of benefits, they also produce many unanticipated challenges. A number of critical hurdles need to be solved before wider acceptance.

Research limitations: This study attempts to explore students’ reactions to e-textbooks by targeting undergraduate students in California. Future studies can focus on the long-term effects on learning.

Practical implications: Considerable attention should be paid to designing features to ensure e-textbooks augment learning rather than detract from it.

Originality/value: This paper also looks at the extent to which e-reader users and none e-reader users differ in their preferences for traditional textbooks and e-textbooks.