Very few of the textbooks are *truly* required. There are a couple must-haves, but they are for clinical reference and you won't buy those until the 2nd or 3rd years. Wait until you get to school to see what's really needed. There are always a few copies of textbooks on reserve in the library, so I know a lot of people who just did their readings that way, but mostly you'll just rely on notes and handouts for each class.
There is a student-run transcript service which usually costs between $15-$25 per quarter (depending on how many classes are transcribed). Students are assigned specific lectures to transcribe, usually 2-4 one hour lectures per quarter. One person is appointed to tape all the lectures, so the student transcribing that lecture is given the tape for that lecture. Old exams and quizzes are provided as a separate part of the transcript service, so you can subscribe to just those if you don't want to participate in the lecture transcripts. I'd say about 85% of the class participates in transcripts.
