WebProNews

Tag: iTunes U

  • iTunes U Tops One Billion Content Downloads

    iTunes U Tops One Billion Content Downloads

    Apple’s educational arm of iTunes, iTunes U, has just hit a significant milestone according to the company. Apple has just announced that iTunes U has served over one billion content downloads since its launch back in 2007.

    “It’s inspiring to see what educators and students of all types are doing with iTunes U,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “With the incredible content offered on iTunes U, students can learn like never before―there are now iTunes U courses with more than 250,000 students enrolled in them, which is a phenomenal shift in the way we teach and learn.”

    According to Apple, iTunes U currently caters to over 1,200 colleges and universities as well as 1,200 K-12 schools. In all, iTunes U offers more than 2,500 public courses, and “thousands” (unspecific) of smaller private ones.

    iTunes U courses can be created in 30 countries, and are accessible in 155. Although Apple touts strong interest in the U.S. (a single Ohio State chemistry course enrolling 100,000 in just one year) over 60% of iTunes U app downloads come from an international audience.

  • iBooks Author Books Can Only Be Sold Through iBookstore

    Apple’s announcement yesterday of iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U signaled the company’s desire to revolutionize both the textbook industry in particular and education in general. While reactions to the announcement have been largely positive, some controversy has sprung up concerning iBooks Author. The Mac app is a tool that allows users to produce e-books quickly and easily, and to insert the kind of interactive elements that Apple showed off in their presentation yesterday.

    The controversy comes from a provision of the app’s End User License Agreement – that thing that you always click to accept but never actually read. Well, tucked away in iBooks Author’s EULA is a provision that has raised a few eyebrows. Here is the actual quote from the EULA:

    If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple.

    A later section of the EULA contains the following:

    B. Distribution of your Work. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, your Work may be distributed as follows:
    (i) if your Work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute the Work by any available means;
    (ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.

    iBooks Author Warning

    In other words, books made in iBooks Author can only be sold in the iBookstore, and Apple will require their customary 30% cut. On the one hand, the requirement seems reasonable: iBooks Author is a free tool, and it makes sense for them to want a cut of profits made from a tool they give away. On the other hand, Apple’s attempt to lock down distribution of content created with any software tool is unprecedented. No company that distributes content creation tools – music editing software, word processors, images editors, even other ebook creation tools – restricts what users do with their content after its created.

  • Apple Announces iBooks 2, iBooks Author, iTunes U App

    Apple Announces iBooks 2, iBooks Author, iTunes U App

    Apple announced the launch of iBooks 2 in New York City today. As expected, the update to Apple’s e-reader software is aimed squarely at textbooks. Textbooks in iBooks 2 include an amazing array of interactive features, including videos, interactive 3D models, and built-in glossaries. iBooks 2 also includes a wide array of highlighting and note taking options, as well as instant feedback on students’ answers to exercises contained in the text.

    Apple also announced iBooks Author, a Mac app that lets users create ebooks that include the full range of iBooks 2’s interactive features. It includes the ability to import videos, Keynote presentations, HTML or Java code, and create widgets like those found on the OS X dashboard. The software also makes it easy to create glossaries for ebooks. Clicking on a word creates a glossary entry for it, and allows the user to enter a definition.

    iBooks Author

    Also part of the announcement was a new project called Life On Earth, an “attempt to recreate the biology textbook” by E.O. Wilson, professor emeritus of biology at Harvard University. The book will be available in the iBookstore chapter by chapter. The first two chapters are available now for free, while other “aggressively priced” chapters will be coming later.

    iTunes U App

    Textbooks in the iBooks store are aimed at the high school market to begin with, and will be selling for $14.99 or less. Apple also announced partnerships with Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which account for roughly 90% of the textbook market. Each company is starting with a range of basic textbooks available in the iBookstore

    Apple also announced an app for iTunes U, its program for making university-level curriculum freely available. The service is currently used primarily for delivering lectures. The new app is meant to turn iTunes U into an entire course management platform. The iTunes U app allows users to track assignments, watch or listen to lectures, take notes, and read assigned materials. Six schools, including Duke, Stanford, MIT, and Yale, have had early access to the new iTunes U and used it to create over 100 online courses. What’s more, while iTunes U has, as the name suggests, been primarily focused on higher education, it is now available for K-12 schools as well.

    All three apps – iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U are live in the App Store right now, and all three are free. iBooks Author is a Mac app, while iTunes U is a universal iOS app. iBooks 2 is also a universal app, just as it has always been, but the textbook features showcased today are only available on the iPad.

  • iTunes U Downloads Surpass 300 Million

    iTunes U Downloads Surpass 300 Million

    Apple has announced that it has surpassed 300 million iTunes U downloads in three years. iTunes U is an area of the iTunes store dedicated to educational content.

    iTunes U includes content from Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne and Université de Montréal. Users can experience university courses, lab demos, sports highlights, campus tours, and special lectures from participating universities.

    Apple says that new content has also just been added from universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico and Singapore. Users now have access to over 350,000 audio and video files from educational institutions around the world.

    iTunes U - Passes 300 million downloads

    "iTunes U makes it easy for people to discover and learn with content from many of the world’s top institutions," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s VP of Internet Services. "With such a wide selection of educational material, we’re providing iTunes users with an incredible way to learn on their computer, iPhone, iPod or iPad."

    iTunes U users can access the content from a variety of devices such as Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

    All iTunes U content is free.