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Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

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Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#11

Post by idspispopd »

kpi wrote: post #9

Harvard, don't lock in your content! Other courses in many formats are available on http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative Why should this one be iTunes only?

This storm in a teacup fear mongering stuff has to stop. It's silly to suggest this is locking in content, or even bad for anyone, and it's obvious why they use this distribution method over hosting the content themselves.

1. It's not in a proprietary format, the documents are PDF, the videos are AAC/H264. (I give up the h264 debate for today). Having to run iTunes to access the store is hardly "lock in". You might as well suggest turning on your computer is lock in.

2. This is on a CDN managed externally, Harvard don't need to invest in data centers.

3. Harvard don't have to pay for hosting/transmission/upkeep costs.

4. It enables harvard to provide something for free when normally they'd need to allocate budget. (And with that possibly charge for it.)

5. It's part of iTunes U, which is praised by universities across the globe for being an excellent enabler of education.

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#12

Post by ramblerman »

idspispopd wrote: post #11
kpi wrote: post #9

Harvard, don't lock in your content! Other courses in many formats are available on http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative Why should this one be iTunes only?

This storm in a teacup fear mongering stuff has to stop. It's silly to suggest this is locking in content, or even bad for anyone, and it's obvious why they use this distribution method over hosting the content themselves. 1. It's not in a proprietary format, the documents are PDF, the videos are AAC/H264. (I give up the h264 debate for today). Having to run iTunes to access the store is hardly "lock in". You might a…

1)

As posted in my other comment - I'm currently at the airport with my android, and no way to get this content. If it's not locked in, how do I access the data?

When I get home I'll have to install itunes. Which will add the apple updater + bonjour to my system as well.

2-4)

I agree completely with your arguments regarding the benefits to Harvard. You're saying the same thing in three different ways though, Harvard has no costs hosting this content, which is true

5)

The big enablers of education that have entered my field of view are MIT opencourseware, khan academy and the recent stanford courses. Perhaps iTunesU is among them, but I haven't seen this praise in my feeds.

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#13

Post by agumonkey » 

  * in progresss *
itunes fetch the whole playlist as m4v so it must be possible to send audio when fetching's over.

edit :

  Format                           : MPEG-4
  Format profile                   : Base Media / Version 2
  File size                        : 402 MiB
  Duration                         : 46mn 28s
  Overall bit rate                 : 1 209 Kbps

  Format                           : AAC
  Format profile                   : LC
  Stream size                      : 62.6 MiB (16%)
  Duration                         : 46mn 28s
  Bit rate                         : 192 Kbps
full codec info >>> http://pastebin.com/dCHEmtVg

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#14

Post by resnamen »

idspispopd wrote: post #11
kpi wrote: post #9

Harvard, don't lock in your content! Other courses in many formats are available on http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative Why should this one be iTunes only?

This storm in a teacup fear mongering stuff has to stop. It's silly to suggest this is locking in content, or even bad for anyone, and it's obvious why they use this distribution method over hosting the content themselves. 1. It's not in a proprietary format, the documents are PDF, the videos are AAC/H264. (I give up the h264 debate for today). Having to run iTunes to access the store is hardly "lock in". You might a…

Podcasting distribution and aggregation is a problem that is already solved really well in the OSS space; there doesn't seem to be a compelling need to adopt proprietary solutions. Harvard isn't a strappy startup with no funds available to it. I'm pretty sure they have oodles of bandwidth and compute power at their disposal.

I don't think they shouldn't use iTunes U, that's fine, but I wish they made it available through alternate channels as well.

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#15

Post by nhebb »

kpi wrote: post #9

Harvard, don't lock in your content! Other courses in many formats are available on http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative Why should this one be iTunes only?

If you step back and think about this for a minute, you're getting free access to educational material from a world class university, and the the only prerequisite is that you install iTunes. That's a pretty good trade off.

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#17

Post by iamabhi9 »

idspispopd wrote: post #11
kpi wrote: post #9

Harvard, don't lock in your content! Other courses in many formats are available on http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative Why should this one be iTunes only?

This storm in a teacup fear mongering stuff has to stop. It's silly to suggest this is locking in content, or even bad for anyone, and it's obvious why they use this distribution method over hosting the content themselves. 1. It's not in a proprietary format, the documents are PDF, the videos are AAC/H264. (I give up the h264 debate for today). Having to run iTunes to access the store is hardly "lock in". You might a…

Well for people using non-Windows and non-mac operating systems it is pretty much locked.

EDIT: Just found out this tool for accessing iTunes University on GNU/Linux: http://tunesviewer.sourceforge.net/

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#18

Post by tikhonj »

nhebb wrote: post #15
kpi wrote: post #9

Harvard, don't lock in your content! Other courses in many formats are available on http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative Why should this one be iTunes only?

If you step back and think about this for a minute, you're getting free access to educational material from a world class university, and the the only prerequisite is that you install iTunes. That's a pretty good trade off.

Unless, of course, Apple refuses to support your platform. And if Apple does refuse--and they do--, your only hope would be reverse-engineering: you can't just port the program itself because it isn't open source.

Imagine the cry if it was Windows only.

Re: Harvard Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability, on iTunes

#20

Post by slig »

tikhonj wrote: post #18
nhebb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you step back and think about this for a minute, you're getting free access to educational material from a world class university, and the the only prerequisite is that you install iTunes. That's a pretty good trade off.

Unless, of course, Apple refuses to support your platform. And if Apple does refuse--and they do--, your only hope would be reverse-engineering: you can't just port the program itself because it isn't open source. Imagine the cry if it was Windows only.

We don't have to imagine. Refer to Feynman classes that MS put online and only worked with Silverlight.
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