I am tryign to buy my textbooks second hand is there a way to know if the course will be using a new text book this yea or the same as last yearr?

Well, apart from looking at Titles' website, not until classes start. Post your courses and somebody might be able to advise you if a professor tends to change textbooks or accept later editions.

titles.mcmaster.ca -> textbook search

The following is best geared toward those in science/engineering as these are the textbooks that are most prevalent online, but I'll throw it out there even though you havent stated what program you're starting in:

www.thepiratebay.se
www.isohunt.com
www.google.com -> textbook name with the tags 'pdf' and 'torrent' added

I haven't spent a dime on a single textbook since first year, except for the occasional anthropology courses that I've taken.

Use the resources available to you, you can save yourself a TON of money. And loads of the .pdf versions of textbooks are actually publisher .pdf copies made for instructors to rip images from to add to their presentations for lecture, so they're clear and crisp (although you will find the occasional mid-quality photocopy/scan).