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Your bank account and the souls of many trees may soon be rejoicing.

With Apple's late January announcement of iBooks 2 (an application where students can access interactive digital textbooks) and Amazon's Kindle devices declining rapidly in price, the days of long lines, expensive textbooks, and back pains might soon be over.

But are digital textbooks really the best direction for education to be going? Let's explore some of the pros and cons of digital textbooks in three areas: convenience, cost, and accessibility.

Convenience: Worth the risk?

When Bryce Leinan, a criminal justice graduate student at American Military University, broke his arm, digital textbooks were his saving grace. His school (which at the time was the University of Nevada, Reno) allowed him to access his textbooks online. Now, years after his recovery, Leinan remains an avid e-textbook user.

"If I'm traveling, I can just take my iPad and have all my coursework on there," Leinan says. "It's easier to read graphs, since I can enlarge them. I can cross-reference notes quicker…I prefer it hands-down."

Many students share Leinan's enthusiasm. According to a 2011 survey by Kelton Research, 71 percent of college students are eager to switch to e-textbooks, many of whom are willing to give up dating or sex to do so.

Some teachers, however, don't think features such as video/audio clips and Internet access are worth the risk of distraction. In an article in Teacher's Monthly, Adrian Marnewick writes, "Printouts and real books command focus in a way greater than an electronic device. Minds might wander off from the text, but at least they won't be playing Infinity Blade II."

Dr. Tracy Gray, director of the National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), thinks this is still the responsibility of the teacher.

"It's a problem all educators face," Gray says. "Before there were handheld devices, kids just looked out the window."

Cost: Who's saving money here?

Saving money by buying digital textbooks isn't always the case. While digital books usually cost less than new books, renting or buying used hardback books is the cheapest option 91.6 percent of the time, according to a 2011 survey by campusbooks.com. Renting textbooks on the Kindle is often the cheapest digital option. And though e-textbooks bought off iBooks 2 are all around $15, that's purely in the high school realm right now.

Of course, this can all change if the school buys digital textbooks in bulk directly from the publisher. Indiana University has been doing this since 2009. According to an article in the New York Times, the school has been offering textbooks at an average of $25 per book and saving $100,000 across the university. Other schools are trying this out, including the University of California, Berkeley and Cornell University.

The biggest cost for students and K-12 school districts ends up being the devices themselves, which range from Kindle at $79 to iPad 2 at $499.

And don't feel bad for traditional publishers. Many of them have already jumped on board with Apple, including Pearson and McGraw-Hill. They end up saving money, since going digital means cutting down on printing and distributing costs, and the biggest benefit of all for publishers: e-books eliminate the resale market.

Accessibility: Best for everyone?

Even if digital textbooks become available and cheaper for all, what about students with special needs? Gray thinks digital textbooks can especially benefit them.

"If we can maximize the features of these tools, we can make sure that kids with special needs get the most out of it that they can," Gray says. Of these features, Gray mentions text-to-speech functionality and the option for larger text.

Gray thinks that digital textbooks should be optional, since not everyone can or will want to use them (both teachers and students). But she thinks that teachers need to get on board and learn how to integrate the technology.

"Schools and educators have the opportunity to use these tools in a very creative way," Gray says. "But as we always say, it's not about the technology -- that's only a tool, it's really how you use it. Teachers need to continue to support to do it well."

More from Schools.com:

• How far students will go to get rid of textbooks -- and why [Infographic]
• Free education? What you can -- and can't -- get out of OpenCourseWare
• Young, fabulous, and not so broke: 4 student budgeting tips
• Back to school tech: 5 reasons tablets rule for school