Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
...Furthermore android apps are on their way which will drastically change the experience

Right. They've been saying that since 2013. Where are they?

...plus chrome os has a native file manager, external hard drive support, external drive, and mouse support which is a definite advantage over iOS. It's no longer just a browser. It can replace a desktop and soon will be able to replace a tablet.

Some people don't find those things to be an "advantage". A bunch of legacy wired ports isn't what I look for in a computer in 2016. And how will ChromeOS 'replace a tablet', since it's not a tablet OS?

Look, I've got nothing against Chromebooks. They serve a purpose, especially if you're all in with Google. It's not a binary decision, there's room for many types of devices, each doing different things well. Everything doesn't have to be judged by how good an impersonation of a MacBook Pro it can pull off.
 
I'm going to leave this right here (emphasis mine)...

“When I asked a senior Apple executive why iMessage wasn’t being expanded to other platforms, he gave two answers,” reports Mossberg. “First, he said, Apple considers its own user base of 1 billion active devices to provide a large enough data set for any possible AI learning the company is working on. And, second, having a superior messaging platform that only worked on Apple devices would help sales of those devices — the company’s classic (and successful) rationale for years.
 
Why would the university invest in an app when that would be expensive and not compatible with their existing services? There are Windows, Android and iOS tablets, alongside Macs and PCs - pretty much every other platform besides iOS can handle the existing system with absolute ease - its just the iPad that can't easily handle it.

It's inevitable and inexpensive.

My son is in elementary school, grades 1-5, here in California. He has never, nor probably will he ever, use a physical textbook. He does his homework online via an app and his teachers communicate with parents via an app. The apps are available not only in Android and iOS, but also as a web app, and therefore is available to all (we use either a Chromebook or an iPad for his homework). And multiple public and private schools use the same apps, with less financial resources than colleges.

Colleges are going to go through the same changes as newspapers experienced. Many are going to wait until it's too late, clinging to 20th century methods, and then there will be a massive and necessary purging of the inefficient and ineffective schools. And like Georgia Tech and their online $7000 M.S. in Computer Science degree, education will once again become affordable and accessible.

And relating this to the original topic, I also have friends who have kids that are in high school and they could care less about file management. They work online and submit their assignments online. This is individual and group assignments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bensisko
It's inevitable and inexpensive.

My son is in elementary school, grades 1-5, here in California. He has never, nor probably will he ever, use a physical textbook. He does his homework online via an app and his teachers communicate with parents via an app. The apps are available not only in Android and iOS, but also as a web app, and therefore is available to all (we use either a Chromebook or an iPad for his homework). And multiple public and private schools use the same apps, with less financial resources than colleges.

Colleges are going to go through the same changes as newspapers experienced. Many are going to wait until it's too late, clinging to 20th century methods, and then there will be a massive and necessary purging of the inefficient and ineffective schools. And like Georgia Tech and their online $7000 M.S. in Computer Science degree, education will once again become affordable and accessible.

And relating this to the original topic, I also have friends who have kids that are in high school and they could care less about file management. They work online and submit their assignments online. This is individual and group assignments.

Its expensive and pointless, because as I've said, every other platform can use my university's system so why would they put money into a specific system for iOS, when Android, Window and mac users need to also use the system. The current system works perfectly well, just iOS is too inflexible to use it. Would much rather Apple allow the option for better download management and file management if the user wants it, then everywhere have to redesign what already works well. Its honestly not that hard.

And regardless, an App is not going to make it any easier to simply download a video. All I want to do is to be able to download a quicktime video and save it to videos, which no app will allow, but every other platform can manage.
 
Last edited:
Right. They've been saying that since 2013. Where are they?



Some people don't find those things to be an "advantage". A bunch of legacy wired ports isn't what I look for in a computer in 2016. And how will ChromeOS 'replace a tablet', since it's not a tablet OS?

Look, I've got nothing against Chromebooks. They serve a purpose, especially if you're all in with Google. It's not a binary decision, there's room for many types of devices, each doing different things well. Everything doesn't have to be judged by how good an impersonation of a MacBook Pro it can pull off.
With the right updates, chrome os could be suitable for a tablet...im sure google will listen and get all of that in order in due time. A couple years from now i believe chrome os will be entirely different from whats expected and will scale to be a proper tablet os as well. Developers are just starting to get acquainted to ensuring android apps conform to chrome os..at least google is trying while our ipad pros are looking more obsolete in the near future ....
 
Its expensive and pointless, because as I've said, every other platform can use my university's system so why would they put money into a specific system for iOS, when Android, Window and mac users need to also use the system. The current system works perfectly well, just iOS is too inflexible to use it. Would much rather Apple allow the option for better download management and file management if the user wants it, then everywhere have to redesign what already works well. Its honestly not that hard.

And regardless, an App is not going to make it any easier to simply download a video. All I want to do is to be able to download a quicktime video and save it to videos, which no app will allow, but every other platform can manage.


I download different videos types for work quite a bit on the iPad. perhaps it is the online file system admin, being inflexible, deciding they don't want iOS access?
 
  • Like
Reactions: M. Gustave
I download different videos types for work quite a bit on the iPad. perhaps it is the online file system admin, being inflexible, deciding they don't want iOS access?

How do you download and save a video using iOS safari? The site has a 'download video' and 'download audio' section for all lectures, and a Mac or Windows PC, when you press download it starts to download the file, on an iOS device it loads it as a quicktime video in Safari.

I can use an app to download the video, but thats a tedious and annoying process... Most things that i find limiting about the iPad in terms of simple file management can be achieved through apps, but the fact its not integrated and the amount of steps and times it takes to accomplish those tasks voids the purpose of the iPad.
 
How do you download and save a video using iOS safari? The site has a 'download video' and 'download audio' section for all lectures, and a Mac or Windows PC, when you press download it starts to download the file, on an iOS device it loads it as a quicktime video in Safari.

Sounds like your real beef should be with the instructor, or the university, for not making everything easily accessible to mobile operating systems. Why can't they use iTunes U?

https://appsto.re/us/LgcoD.i
 
Sounds like your real beef should be with the instructor, or the university, for not making everything easily accessible to mobile operating systems. Why can't they use iTunes U?

https://appsto.re/us/LgcoD.i


No my real beef should be with Apple not offering a good way to download a video. Its just just uni lectures, its a multitude of videos.

I would be annoyed if my uni spent money on retraining to switch to iTunes U - Can you use iTunes U on PCs and Androids without additional software? I don't think so. That just complicates the whole process, as the university then can't easily integrate their own online system with the lectures with all the other services they offer. They shouldn't have to use an entirely different platform just to share videos because iOS devices are incapable of a simple function.

Again, every other mobile and desktop platform can simply download the video to somewhere - it is easily accessible on Android and Windows (Tablets and Phones), and given Android makes up the majority of the smartphone marketshare, the approach works for the majority.

Tell me how your perfect iPad experience will be negatively affected by Apple offering the ability to save a video? The answer is it doesn't, it just makes the iPad a better tool for those who need it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
No my real beef should be with Apple not offering a good way to download a video. Its just just uni lectures, its a multitude of videos.

Let's be fair here: most people who are presented with a video want to watch it. I personally copy the links to something like GoodReader where I can download them and then organise them into folders if I choose.
 
Let's be fair here: most people who are presented with a video want to watch it. I personally copy the links to something like GoodReader where I can download them and then organise them into folders if I choose.

I like to save the video so I can watch it later, while on the bus for example. The standard quicktime web video doesn't remember where you were when you go back in as well, because I often listen to lecture in two parts. Plenty of people at Uni do that. Also for revision purposes, having all the lectures in a folder to easily watch is fantastic.

Copying bloody links into other applications and converting stuff is exactly what I hate having to do and what I'm looking to avoid. The iPad is meant to be simple, so why should simple things like this be so complex? It would be super simple to be able to press the share menu and press save.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
Can you use iTunes U on PCs and Androids without additional software? I don't think so.

Yes, you access it through iTunes for pc or mac.

I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole you've created for yourself of things that 'don't work' on iOS, but a university should make every attempt to accommodate iOS devices, which are a 45% market share in the US, and probably much higher than that among college age kids.

There isn't even a reason at a university that you need to be so focused on downloading videos to local storage.
 
The iPad is meant to be simple, so why should simple things like this be so complex? It would be super simple to be able to press the share menu and press save.

I think part of the reason might be that content owners don't want users to be able to easily copy videos. Not being a student, the only videos I'm interested in saving are all on YouTube or various TV network websites. There's no easy way to save those videos, even on a desktop computer.
 
Yes, you access it through iTunes for pc or mac.

I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole you've created for yourself of things that 'don't work' on iOS, but a university should make every attempt to accommodate iOS devices, which are a 45% market share in the US, and probably much higher than that among college age kids.

There isn't even a reason at a university that you need to be so focused on downloading videos to local storage.

Try reading what I wrote - I said without having to download software - so no there is not. Logging onto the Uni's web service can be done without any additional accounts or applications - just a web browser.

To accommodate to iOS devices would necessitate a very expensive upgrade, and I'd much rather my money be spent on other things. Apple has a ridiculous amount of money, building in a simple tool to make downloading files easier is not exactly beyond them.

You have no idea about my usage needs or anyone else's at university - The reason I gave up with my iPad at uni was due to the inability to easily manage things like this. I've told you exactly why students at my uni download videos to local storage.

1. To watch the lecture later without having to pay for mobile data to do so.
2. To watch the lecture in multiple parts and have the device remember where you are up to
3. To keep on the device to use for revision without having to go through an online service every single time.

I get by now that any function that you don't need doesn't deserve to be on the iPad, and you're so focused on blindly defending it that theres no point, because it would obviously completely destroy your ability to use your iPad having a simple option in the share menu.

[doublepost=1466343263][/doublepost]
I think part of the reason might be that content owners don't want users to be able to easily copy videos. Not being a student, the only videos I'm interested in saving are all on YouTube or various TV network websites. There's no easy way to save those videos, even on a desktop computer.

I'm not asking for a download service, just when there is a video that is clearly meant to be downloaded (EG on a desktop or other device, when you press 'download video' it downloads an MP4 file, for that file to be able to be saved to the device without having to use other apps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
You have an iPad, allegedly, yet are unwilling to install iTunes on your pc... right. You'll just keep moving the goal posts. I'm out.


Oh for goodness sake, I obviously have a Mac (as in my signature) plus an iPad, so I obviously have iTunes.

I'm talking about the university requiring all students to download iTunes, make an Apple ID, then need to use two different services (Eg uni website for course marks, turn it in etc then iTunes U for lectures) just because Apple can't integrate a simple function. Why would anyone choose to switch between multiple services and require academics to use multiple platforms?

Currently the website is dead easy. All devices can simply log on, choose the course and have everything in one site, and the only issue is that lectures can not download onto iOS devices, when every other platform can download them as they are a simple downloadable file.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
I'm not asking for a download service, just when there is a video that is clearly meant to be downloaded (EG on a desktop or other device, when you press 'download video' it downloads an MP4 file, for that file to be able to be saved to the device without having to use other apps.

Why the resistance to using third-party apps? What you want with regards to your university videos can be done today, using third party apps. I don't insist that Apple provide every single software I need for the Mac, and it's the same with iPad.
 
Why the resistance to using third-party apps?

Because moving the goalposts, and demanding that iOS accomplish all possible tasks in his preferred method, gives him reasons to keep grousing about Apple.

I honestly don't know anyone else his age today, right out of high school, with such a rigid view of technology.
 
How do you download and save a video using iOS safari? The site has a 'download video' and 'download audio' section for all lectures, and a Mac or Windows PC, when you press download it starts to download the file, on an iOS device it loads it as a quicktime video in Safari.

I can use an app to download the video, but thats a tedious and annoying process... Most things that i find limiting about the iPad in terms of simple file management can be achieved through apps, but the fact its not integrated and the amount of steps and times it takes to accomplish those tasks voids the purpose of the iPad.


Using safari I click download if it is an option, then pick an app to save to. Or sometimes the video needs to loads up, and then I have the option to open in whatever app I want it in. At which point it saves it on the ipad in that app. It depends on how the server is coded. Same thing with PDFs.

It can't be that difficult for the person dealing with the server to allow it, since so many others do. It really is a beef with the system admin at your uni, if you truely can't download. Perhaps ask them and see if you are missing something in order to downloads?

BTW, you still need an app on a PC, Mac, or android to view the video just like on iOS.....
 
Why the resistance to using third-party apps? What you want with regards to your university videos can be done today, using third party apps. I don't insist that Apple provide every single software I need for the Mac, and it's the same with iPad.

Because it is not as simple - I like to have all my uni files organised by week and achieving this through third party apps to download video is just a pain. It involves logging onto the uni website, finding the lecture, pressing download, copying the url, going to the download app, pasting that in, logging in again, then downloading it, then having to use that app to view the file, when it should be as easy as uni website, finding the lecture, pressing download, selecting where to save, then viewing the file.

If Apple allowed 3rd party apps to integrate with iOS better to do this stuff, than I'd be fine, but at the moment, only Apple can offer the integration that will make tasks like this simple. I see this as very basic stuff and don't excuse Apple for either integrating it themselves or allowing 3rd parties to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
Because it is not as simple - I like to have all my uni files organised by week and achieving this through third party apps to download video is just a pain. It involves logging onto the uni website, finding the lecture, pressing download, copying the url, going to the download app, pasting that in, logging in again, then downloading it, then having to use that app to view the file, when it should be as easy as uni website, finding the lecture, pressing download, selecting where to save, then viewing the file.

If Apple allowed 3rd party apps to integrate with iOS better to do this stuff, than I'd be fine, but at the moment, only Apple can offer the integration that will make tasks like this simple. I see this as very basic stuff and don't excuse Apple for either integrating it themselves or allowing 3rd parties to.

I use documents, and have everything in there organized by project. I can download from safari into that app. Does not matter file format. Open in from emails, access Dropbox as well as other cloud storage....it is very simple. Did the same with goodreader prior to using document. Both are great apps that give you a 'file system' on iOS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bensisko
Because moving the goalposts, and demanding that iOS accomplish all possible tasks in his preferred method, gives him reasons to keep grousing about Apple.

I honestly don't know anyone else his age today, right out of high school, with such a rigid view of technology.

I don't know why you have such a rigid view of technology. Any time anyone on here suggests something that the iPad can't do you dismiss it as not needed, because its increasingly obvious that the iPad meets all of your needs.

Wanting to achieve something in the simplest way possible is not 'rigid', it is common sense. I have no moved any goal posts, I have stated throughout this whole thread that I would like Apple to add some features to make working on the iPad easier, but at the same time preserving the ability of people like you who don't want anything to do with files.

Back in 2011, I was the first student in senior school (At my school) to buy an iPad for school use, because I thought it was great doing things in a different way, and it was for high school, but now after 3 years of Uni, Its increasingly obvious how annoying things have become to achieve, copying files between Apps, ending up with redundant copies, its ridiculous. I'm all for trying new things, but those new things need to be able to offer A) a better way or B) a easier way to achieve something, and with regards to a lot of aspects of productivity, the iPad does neither A or B. I'd love Apple to surprise me and offer a great (quicker and easier) way of managing this all in a way I never thought was possible, it doesn't have to be exactly like I suggest. They did that with most of the consumption aspects of the iPad, which I still love my iPad to death for.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
Here is the deal oldmacs, you either need to change your workflow on the iPad, in order to do what you want to do, or you need to go to a different platform that does it the way you want. You keep telling us how all these other platforms have the option, but iOS doesn't. Plenty of times we all have explained how to do what you want on the iPad. And you tell us it is wrong, and it needs to be your way or forget it.

The iPad is what it is at this point. Either except how it works or, find a platform that does it your way move on. Leave feedback for Apple on what features you want to see. Speak with your money, and don't buy an iPad if it doesn't suit your needs. But, if you really want to use the iPad for the things you tells us you do, then you need to adapt. Not saying your ideas won't get implemented down the road...but right now adapting your workflow is the answer to your issues.
 
I use documents, and have everything in there organized by project. I can download from safari into that app. Does not matter file format. Open in from emails, access Dropbox as well as other cloud storage....it is very simple. Did the same with goodreader prior to using document. Both are great apps that give you a 'file system' on iOS.

Do either offer integration with iCloud Drive? Can you open files in there directly into Pages or other applications? Can you save a video or photo straight off the web into either? My experience (With both of them) is that you can not. I find it fair clunkier using Apps like that, and I've tried heaps of them over the years and continue to try them. I can not simply move a document I start in pages to documents (the app) so that it can be organised by project, then continue working on it in pages, without ending up with copies, which is an inefficient way of doing things.

The basis for what I request is already there in iCloud Drive, just needs the ability to use local storage as standard as an option, have an option to automatically download all files to the device itself (rather than downloading them on request), the ability to directly save files off other apps (such as from safari), and the ability to save videos (that are made downloadable), photos (options rather than the photos app) and audio. Also the ability to search would be great, including in documents from both the iCloud Drive search bar and spotlight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjamin Frost
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.