Online Ruby Programming Course from Pragmatic Studio

There's quite a healthy ecosystem in this area now, it seems. Just some links:<p><a href="https://rubyoffrails.com/" rel="nofollow">https://rubyoffrails.com/</a> <a href="http://owningrails.com/" rel="nofollow">http://owningrails.com/</a> <a href="http://www.codeschool.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.codeschool.com/</a> <a href="http://railstutors.com/" rel="nofollow">http://railstutors.com/</a> <a href="http://www.rubyreloaded.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rubyreloaded.com/</a> (disclaimer: mine!) <a href="http://rubylearning.org/class/" rel="nofollow">http://rubylearning.org/class/</a> (free) <a href="http://www.buildingwebapps.com/learningrails" rel="nofollow">http://www.buildingwebapps.com/learningrails</a> (free)<p>Probably should get together a list of these someplace actually!

Another fantastic resource is the railscast series (railscasts.com) by Ryan Bates. Each one is short, pithy, and focused at about seven minutes. Whenever I watch one of them, in addition to learning what the particular episode is about, I invariably pick up a cute new rails or ruby idiom. It is like watching over the shoulder of a guru as he writes code.

I don't see how this can even compete with something like treehouse or code school. It's the same sort of online course that is being offered everywhere across the web and the price, in my opinion, is pretty outlandish.

I am curious: in what ways is an online course of this sort preferable to reading a book (plus doing exercises)? Is the "live" help really that much of a factor in learning the material?

How much does it cost?