The Brave New World of iTexts

Yesterday was a much-anticipated Apple “event”. This time the focus wasn't on the latest iteration of an i-device, but rather on content. Ebooks to be more specific and interactive e-textbooks to be most precise.

An upgrade to the iPad's iBooks app was introduced, which makes a new degree of interactivity possible. Exclusive deals with several major publishers, primarily of textbooks, were also announced. A few have examples already available for download. And perhaps most interesting of all, a new - and free - iBook authoring software for the Mac (creatively called “iBook Author”) was shown off. (A final introduction was an iTunesU app. Not quite as exciting, but it does make more sense than having to go through the iTunes store for that content.)

Of course I was initially thrilled and scurried off to download my new and improved iBooks as well as iTunesU. And I checked out - alright drooled over a little - screenshots of the iBook Author app that I, as a Windows user, won't have access to. 

And then reality set in. There are no new iBooks features for my existing ebooks; the new study cards feature that intrigued me most seems to only be for books designed with the new iBooks Author. I would have liked to download and test out the two sample chapters of the interactive biology text they demoed at the event, but it was close to a gig (the full book will be almost 3 gigs!) and I just don't have that kind of space to spare.

Therein lies the first rub. Yes interactivity is wonderful. But all those graphics, videos, self-correcting quizzes, charts and other little widgets take up A LOT of space. A basic 16 gig iPad is going to become very full very quickly. And, at least as of now, an iPad is your only option to view these ebooks because they seem to be a new and proprietary file type. I can forget about using them on my nice little ereader, or a Kindle Fire, or any other type of tablet either.

So just how much of a “bargain” will these new  etextbooks really be? Apple has promised all high school (i.e. grades 9-12) texts will be $14.99 or less. But what about all the other grades, not to mention college/university texts? Moreover, you will need one textbook per student (they'll be tied to the kids' Apple ID's) every single year. If a print book costs $75 but lasts at least five years, which I read is standard, where are your savings? Some schools also have students share texts - especially easy if they operate on a semestered system. Well, no more if Apple has a say ... and I haven't even factored in the cost of the actual iPad itself! And when you really think about it, do you actually need an updated textbook every single year? It would be most useful for science and social studies, I suppose, but even there - at least at the elementary and high school levels - you're most frequently learning basic facts and concepts that are relatively unchanging.

Creating iBooks does sound pretty awesome, though. I was thinking of all sorts of fun things you could do both on your own (photo books, recipe books - the possibilities are endless) and with classes. Even better that the software to create them is absolutely free. That's until you remember that you need a Mac to run it. Hmmm ... $500 PC and, say, $100 software, or free software but $1000+ for a Mac. Which is really the better bargain? And unfortunately grandma won't ever be able to see your iBook on her Kindle; your cousin with a Windows PC won't be able to either. Now of course there's no viable alternative to iBooks Author yet - it is only one day old, after all - but hopefully it won't be too long before one surfaces, one that produces content most devices can access.

Lastly, there is a little thing called a EULA (end user license agreement), that, according to experts, is incredibly restrictive for products created with iBooks Author. Apple essentially owns the content you produce. Your original words and images seem to be your own, but all the fancy layouts, graphics and interactive elements you spend hours - days - incorporating into your ebook are not. They can accept your work - or prevent you from publishing it on iTunes. And you certainly can't publish it anywhere else for money, although you're generously “allowed” to give it away. (That's if it will even work anywhere else; if you save it as a traditional ePub you'll be losing at least some functionality; as a PDF you'll lose all interactivity.)

So unless Apple is going to become incredibly altruistic and start basically giving away iPads to students - something that was decidedly not mentioned during yesterday's presentation - they've set themselves up very nicely for mega profits. You have to buy the (probably large capacity - at least 32 gig) iPads for all your students. And if you want your teachers or students to start creating their own iBooks you'll also need to purchase Macs. If you're an author, well then you'll need both a Mac and an iPad to test your book on ... but do you really want to limit yourself to only one platform anyway? Wouldn't you like to also be able to sell your work on Amazon or Chapters or any other outlet you want?
I do love my iPad and it would certainly be fun to play around with iBooks Author, but Apple's announcements are not a panacea for the myriad woes that plague education. They all seem wonderful at first glance, and some students will definitely benefit, but many will not. And the biggest winner of all will still be Apple itself.

I HATE iTunes!

Now don't get me wrong: I adore my iPad and I truly love many of my apps too. BUT ... I hate, loathe, despise and DETEST iTunes. It is one of the most convoluted, un-user friendly pieces of software I have ever had the misfortune to be compelled to use. 

I actually wouldn't use it if it were a mere matter of managing music; there are better alternatives. But I like to manage my apps and nothing else does that (at least not if you're not jail broken). I like them organised in folders and backed up for safety's sake, and I don't want to be re-downloading things. Today I finally got around to transferring purchases (I'd naively thought that backing up was enough; it's not), updating overdue apps, and the dreaded sync. 

That's where things didn't go quite right. On the bright side, I now have over five gigs of free space ... on the other hand, I have somehow deleted four gigs of apps and unfortunately have no idea which ones they were. Maybe a forced purge (followed by a forced reorganization) isn't such a terrible thing. I could probably stand to purge a lot more yet, particularly in my games section. And miraculously, even though Kindle, my pdf (Perfect Reader) and comic book (Comic Flow) apps were deleted at one point, when I put them back on, somehow all my books were still there! But it wasn't how I was planning to spend my day. 

A nice, friendly software would make it easy for me to arrange and rearrange to my heart's content. It would make it easy for me to sort my apps by date installed or uninstalled. It would let me search my collection of apps (now perilously close to 1000) in multiple ways. Maybe it would even give me little screenshot previews to refresh my memory of what exactly an app does. But that software doesn't exist; it certainly isn't iTunes. 

And I don't hold out much hope for improvements. Apple does hardware very well; software - not so much. They haven't been especially concerned with customer satisfaction with iTunes in the past, so I don't expect the trend to change in the future. Everything is going off to the Cloud anyway these days. But I don't want to worry about things disappearing or not being available for whatever reason, or extra downloading charges. I want to rely on me - not the nebula. So unfortunately for the foreseeable future I guess I will have to make an uneasy peace with iTunes and hope it doesn't decide to delete or rearrange too many things without my input.

Pandora, Three Months On

I've had Pandora, my iPad, for three months now. Am I still as smitten as I was at first and, more importantly, how has having her changed me? Am I better in any way for it? Are there any unexpected consequences that I didn't foresee?

Well, yes, yes, and yes. I am still totally in love I must admit. I use her every single day; it's almost as if she's an extension of me. It hasn't exactly been the easiest three months of my life and I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked, but now that I'm on holiday - and finally sprang for the Pages app - hopefully I will become more productive.

How do I use her? That's surprising me a little. I do read on her, but probably less than I expected to. I'm way behind on my magazine list; ditto for books. I have so many it's a bit overwhelming. To narrow myself down and focus on just one or two at a time is tough. Once I'm into a book, though, I'm into it - a good read is a good read and I see little difference between reading a print version and an iPad version (if one is available). I haven't written much either though I also have the Blogsy app. Like I said, I hope to change that this summer. My rough goal is at least four blog entries (or some other equivalent writing) a week. I definitely like the writing experience a lot better than I expected. I can type pretty darn fast now.

Besides reading and writing, I'm surprising myself with how acquisitive I am. I check three app sites faithfully for new freebies (I've only purchased a very select few apps) and have downloaded hundreds. I just can't pass up a bargain. Even if I'm not sure I'll ever actually need or use an app, if it's free for the day, I'll download it on the off chance I might want it someday. It's so bad I have less than a quarter of what I thought would be a spacious 32gb free! And that's with only one cd and one movie - and even after having removed a significant number of apps. Of course I've discovered some pleasant surprises doing that too - favourite games like Fishdom, Hand of Greed and, just this weekend, Fishdom H2O; a TV Guide, a great web browser, Maven ... there are a few apps I really enjoy and use regularly.

It also surprises me immensely how many games I've amassed. I've never ever been a gaming person, but now I really enjoy playing a variety for a few minutes here and there. I guess I'm basically a games dabbler by nature. I'm especially attracted to a whole new genre for me though: hidden object games like Fishdom H2O, and BigFish's Amazon HD. Sometimes I feel a little guilty playing when I could be doing more practical things, but I also think a little play might be exactly what I need these days. It's nice to be so immersed in a game that I forget everything else for awhile.

Overall I do think I'm a happier, if not a better, person for having Pandora. There's always something new to do or learn or try with her. She's a fun companion and a useful distraction from any bad things. My brain really seems to like the stimulation she provides. At first I felt a bit antsy using her - especially gaming before bed, but that's dissipating a little now. I know how to mange her - and me - better. A quite hidden object game or reading a book, not a magazine, is best. My biggest negative comment would be that it is pretty easy to let yourself get distracted on her. I can be reading along but then stop for a definition, then want to just check out a link or reference online, then want to just pop onto one of my sites to check for new apps for a sec, then just want to play one of my games for a minute ... you get the picture. And I'm a fairly focussed person. I can imagine some kids just hopping all over the place and not accomplishing anything at all. It's hard to resist the allure when you have so much quite literally at your fingertips. But for me that's a small price to pay. For me, Pandora is one of the best things to have happened in quite some time, and I truly love her and expect to be using her for a long, long time (or at least until the iPad 3 arrives next year!)