I hear what's being said here but things have moved on in... Grimsby (Wah?)
I have (DM) two full time games and an on-and-off game.
Game 1 Round-the-table-swearing-and-drinking.
One player has PH1, none of the other players have any 'books', I think two of the players have DDI subscription- the players have been playing since the start of 2010, prior to that only one of them had ever played D&D (or any other RPG) previously. The youngest is 28 (I think) the oldest is 50+, as I say no books- never built a character other than on-line.
Game 2 Via Maptools, hoary-old skool RPGers from around the globe.
All players have minimum ten years or so experience with D&D and RPGs, most of them have the Players Handbook, one of them (Simon) has lots of other books (he DM/Plays in something like four games/week). All of the players have DM'ed or been players in other campaigns while our Maptools game has been ongoing. I'd say they own, even including Simon's collection, on avergae 2-3 hardback books each.
Game 3 The sons and daughters of Game 1
They have never seen a single book, that's not true, they've seen them- even looked at a few of the pictures, but they don't know the rules, haven't read them, and are not interested in doing so- average age of this group is however about 11. They don't read much however, that's not to say they're not bright kids- they don't interact with the world via written text that's all.
My point is tech rules, I wish it were otherwise, but here in the cutting edge silicon valley that is Grimsby, well none of my players have access to 'all' the books they need, mostly not even 'some' of the books they need. Most of my players have never read any of the books- most of my players don't want to read any of the books. And I want you to know that this has been the case since 1E, one of us had a box set- the other guys were players, I can remember back through 5-10 campaigns (each lasting a year or more), in which I (the DM) was the only guy to actually own one/any/some of the books.
Lastly, I don't own a mobile phone, I'm not sure what buttons to press on the DVD remote control, I only learnt how to copy and paste on a Mac (after owning one for eight years- for work) about a year ago (although I think I've forgotten again- Apple C & Apple V- is that it?).
And while I could make a PC without the CB, I would pay money- far more money than I am already, to avoid doing so. My players on the other hand wouldn't know where to start (90% of them), not that they own the books.
Welcome to Grimsby, the age of enlightenment starts here...
At times it makes me sad, I think Bill Hicks said it best-
"Whatchyer readin' for? Why don'tcher jus' flip on the tube?"
Books (and I have an MA in English, and rooms full of them) that's so last century...
Alas.
Cheers Goonalan.