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Columnist Calls for Apple to Decouple iTunes U from iTunes
Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 at 2:00 PM - by Bryan Chaffin
Jon Udell of InfoWorld wants Apple to decouple its iTunes U project with Stanford from iPod, QuickTime, and even iTunes itself. In short, he wants for Apple to offer Stanford's content in an open manner using formats supported by other digital media devices (namely MP3) from a Web-based front end accessible by anyone, anywhere.
As it stands now, Apple offers Stanford lectures, addresses and speeches, and even Stanford music through iTunes in the AAC format with FairPlay DRM supported by iPod. It's all free, but Mr. Udell is criticizing Apple for only offering it through iTunes, and making it playable only on iPod.
"Here's my first gripe," he wrote. "Podcasting is based on open (HTTP, RSS) and vendor-neutral (MP3) standards. But Apple's iTunes U is, quite unnecessarily, a walled garden. Among mainstream programs, only the iTunes client can download the talks. Among mainstream players, only iTunes, QuickTime, and the iPod can play them."
His second complaint is one based in error, that Apple makes it difficult to get URLs for lectures and other iTunes U downloads. In reality, right-clicking on any particular download gives you the option of copying the URL.
That, however, is not Mr. Udell's main point; opening up of iTunes U with a Web front end and MP3 downloads is. You can read Mr. Udell's thoughts at his InfoWorld blog, and in an earlier editorial he wrote in mid-January.
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