I carried books first semester...what a pain. (Literally.) Second semester I got my books unbound, and had everything in one binder. Much easier on the back.
I don't know how someone can get away with no books in class. I found them pretty indespensible for most classes when I was on the hot seat, which sometimes seemed pretty frequent.
For next semester, we'll see how the schedule shakes out, but I'll consider doing that again.
Not a fan of rolling bags. Maybe I've just been run over by too many, since the people who have them always seem to sit in the middle of the rows.
Oh, and on the copyright issue, I haven't had that class. But if you're copying a book you own for your own use, it doesn't seem like there'd be a problem. If you then sell that copy, that would probably be an issue. But the scanning thing seems cost/time prohibitive. Unbinding was $4.50/book for me, along w/the 3-hole punching. Rebinding would be about $15/book, if I choose to do that. I'd rather not waste my time at a copier.