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Apple Posts Video of iBooks and iTunes U Media Event

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Following today's media event that saw the introduction of iBooks 2 with new iPad digital textbooks alongside expanded iTunes U functionality, Apple has now posted video of the event to its site. The video is also available as a podcast video download in HD and standard formats. Among today's announcements:

- Apple Launches iBooks 2 with Interactive Textbooks
- 'iBooks Author' eBook Authoring App for Mac Now Available
- iTunes U for iPad Retools the Learning Experience

Our additional coverage includes:

- Hands-On Video With Apple's Digital Textbooks
- Some iPad Textbooks Weigh In Above Apple's 2GB Book Size Limit
- iBooks Textbook Sales: Authors Set Pricing Up to $14.99, Apple Takes 30%, iBooks-Exclusive
- New iBooks 'Not Technically' in ePub Format

Article Link: Apple Posts Video of iBooks and iTunes U Media Event
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/19/apple-posts-video-of-ibooks-and-itunes-u-media-event/
I opened iTunes for something else to see it already downloading. That was a fast turnaround for this event to available online. Good job on that one.

Oh, I love iTunesU!
 
2:57 min:

"..it's all automatically organized for you, so you just don't need to think about it.."

They have said it all.
 
I know it's not really a big issue, but these product names really bug me. iBooks Author? Why not just call it Author or something else that's simple and fits in with their other iWork products?

Same problem with iTunes U. It sounds very clumsy, and now that it's an application on its own why is iTunes still part of the name/branding? Why not call it iUniversity or iKnowledge or something?
 
Tinyluph said:
I know it's not really a big issue, but these product names really bug me. iBooks Author? Why not just call it Author or something else that's simple and fits in with their other iWork products?

Same problem with iTunes U. It sounds very clumsy, and now that it's an application on its own why is iTunes still part of the name/branding? Why not call it iUniversity or iKnowledge or something?
Click to expand...

Agreed. The lack of consistency is odd. iBooks Author should have been called "Author," and included as a fourth member of iWork (of course, iWork is not a package anymore, but it still exists)
 
ibooks

Like everything Apple they dole out versions that only keep you waiting for the next improved one. A good start though. Why not have more Flash type interactive buttons a timeline and actions via an HTML5 interface? Designers really miss this about Flash which would be a great book development platform if it didn't suck for speed-so if Apple made a similar software but with speed and interactivity instead of this basic software, books could be SO much better than even this-now waiting for version 2.
 
text books.....here begins the next chapter....industry

Give all the teachers the tools and some will be motivated to produce book /apps and the very best will do as well as 'angry birds', Griffin Tech, and all the other businesses who have grown inside the Apple eco-system.

The failure of Windows to deliver an ipad software solution means that within a school generation they will get trashed - like Apple nearly did until SJ delivered them from the high street software bargin bins,,,
 
Awesome! Can't wait to get home and watch it.

Edit:
There are plenty of interactive books in the app store and I think they are great. My kids love them and a $.99-$3 it's not bad.
 
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This presentation just makes me feel sick. It was an immediate facepalm once Phil's "video" came into play... Yep, lets do the usual routine of tugging on everyones hearts, play some sad piano music in the background, zoom into some people who look concerned, and pretend that a huge dilemma exists. In other words, Apple create a problem.

And who's gonna fix that problem? Apple! Buy our £395 product and we'll revolutionise education!

What nonsense. You have to carry a few books around at Uni, so what? Did this really need 'fixing'? I didn't pass all the time ago through moaning about a heavy bag, students just get on with it. And most of the time you're in a library anyway, tucked away with your own stash of books. I can have as many books as I want open, and just used some PostIt's to keep important pages. You own a book;

  1. It doesn't live off a battery.
  2. You drop it, it doesn't smash.
  3. You buy the books you need without a base cost just to 'read' them.
  4. Re-sell value.
  5. Using 'real' books would develop better cognitive skills than learning how to use an iPad.

Call it sentimental value, but I can't see myself warming to a virtual 'textbook' in my iBook shelf, which is basically a piece of a software anyway. Many of the texts I bought for University are beautiful things, and I pride having them sit on my shelf, ready to flick through. They may not be 'interactive', but isn't that what an imagination is for?

It doesn't matter how much these 'books' are, $15 or not, because not all schools or pupils can even afford iPad's. If Apple were that serious about education, they'd crawl out of their clean-cut, utopian view of the world and reduce the price heavily, thus getting the actual device that can activate these 'books' into peoples hands. And don't worry, after 12-months they'll bang on about how awesome the new iPad. 'Sorry, now your current iPad is suddenly out of date'.

I have nothing against interactive software and learning through different mediums, but Apple's insistence on pulling the old sympathy trick is ridiculous.
 
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Will this solve the problem of buying a $180.00 college textbook, using it for 3.5 months and then hearing that the bookstore "can't" buy it back?

.. I sure hope so
 
bcanales said:
I like that Apple is taking the education route. Those text books look amazing and should make learning exciting for students.
Click to expand...
Text books? There doesn't appear to be much text at all. They look more like PICTURE books to me. You know, those things you use to keep very young children interested in a story during the time when their attention spans and cognitive abilities are still unable to handle serious tasks.
 
ipads used by world

Yep, and the US will get this ipad and then over the course of another 10 years we will be right back down to the same place we were in the beginning because the rest of the world will also be using the same thing. Maybe even get better because some say schools are not allowing it.

It's funny because when I was in school we couldn't even have a calculator! That was pretty stupid. Today its on my phone and with me anytime I need it. I agree we should not be dependent upon it, but here we are with not being able to use ipads in class. However, I can see why teachers would not want these in class... because a majority of people in the class would not be doing the subject matter! Just surfing away and looking like they are engaged.

Haha!
 
Just saw the podcast. Judged on pure presentation skills it clearly lacked Jobs' contagious enthusiasm. Luckily, what was being said and what had been done was awesome.

This is powerful stuff. There's a lot of potential if the whole eco-system sees wide adoption. I was especially impressed with the iTunes U Course Manager.

And naturally, the iBooks Author app made me want to finnish writing my second book and start building the iPad version.

The only worry I have is about shelf life. Printed books lasts for hundreds of years. When will this "standard" be outdated and no longer supported? At least this needs to be an open standard.

- - -

By the way, can anyone tell me if book highlights and notes are stored in the cloud? "Forever"? And do they resync if my iPad dies, I buy a new one and re-download the book?
 
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I am all in favor for "physical" books, I love owning them and there are some books on my shelf that I bought for university, which I am really proud to have.

But I can also see a lot of advantages to Apple's approach.
The digital textbooks sure are a great thing, they offer tons of opportunities and for certain fields they may provide an advantage over regular books.

Can I see myself using them: damn sure.
Can I see myself using only them: damn sure not.

Of course, Apple presents digital textbooks like they are gonna replace each and every physical textbook in the world within the next six months.
They have to, it's their product.

But no one forces us to buy them. It's not like regular books are gonna be abolished.
But for certain uses, I see a clear market for those digital textbooks.

Just look at me, I am from the medical field, nuclear medicine to be precise.
I am still learning and one thing that bothered me about books in our field is that 1. each of those books costs like a fortune, 200 - 300 Euros and 2. that the images (and nuclear medicine lives of images) are usually looking crappy as hell. Mostly bad black and white prints, sometimes color, but really low resolution, too light or too dark.
Now throw me a textbooks covering a subject like that with interactive features like great images, studies to actually scan through, 3D models etc. and I am sure in for the ride.
I could also imagine that those textbooks could be great for Radiology or for interactive Anatomy Atlases.
When I was a student at med school, I used to carry around those big atlases, usually they are in two volumes or more. They are not really handy and finding something means flipping through tons and tons of pages.
Now I imagine an Anatomy Atlas on my iPad in a digital form.
I can easily access images that show certain structures, open 3D models, turn them around with my finger tips, zoom in and out, add or remove structures, really get the feel of how and arm or a leg is built. I imagine that I can actually access additional information, CT scans, histological images, additional information to muscles, nerves and vessels.

You know, the possibilities are endless...and while I will still be reading my paperback fantasy novel in my living room chair, I can really see myself at work with my iPad scanning through the latest compendium on PET/CT scans looking up even the rarest conditions.

It's cool they started this off, I hope it gains momentum.
 
miniroll32 said:
What nonsense. You have to carry a few books around at Uni, so what? Did this really need 'fixing'? I didn't pass all the time ago through moaning about a heavy bag, students just get on with it. And most of the time you're in a library anyway, tucked away with your own stash of books. I can have as many books as I want open, and just used some PostIt's to keep important pages. You own a book;

[...]
[*]Using 'real' books would develop better cognitive skills than learning how to use an iPad.
[/LIST]
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you that apple overdramatized the non-existend problem. But however the iPad is a perfect tool to make education more efficient. But that's also dependent on what you're studying. The search function for example will save you time in finding the specific information you are searching.

But it will be much more intuitive if it comes to problems in physics or biochemistry. Because describing a complex problem by words or some pictures is far more inefficient then using an interactive animation (e.g. you know the problem in visualizing crystallographic structures? A 3D model would be more clear here).

I'm disappointed that Apple is more and more neglecting the Mac-Users. I mean iTunes U as an App would also work great on a MacBook, so why they're not making a Mac Version as well? I know: They want me to buy an iPad...
 
One more thing...

They never mentioned how kids are supposed to afford these iPads and books. Even if they can afford it, iPad theft becomes an issue. You really trust little Timmy to not lose (or steal) a $400 Angry Birds machine? College, yes. Pre-college, not logical.
 
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