Anyone know if the iBooks can be viewed on the Mac yet? If students are taking notes, and marking up their textbooks, they might like to then use that on their desktops and laptops.
I personally don't get this one. Authors who's looking to make money of the book would not want to tie themselves to the small iBookstore market only. Which means this tool will mostly be used by authors who want to distribute their work free - which means good books would be driven away (because good books usually charge money).
I personally don't get this one. Authors who's looking to make money of the book would not want to tie themselves to the small iBookstore market only. Which means this tool will mostly be used by authors who want to distribute their work free - which means good books would be driven away (because good books usually charge money).
Nonsense. It would be distributed free in settings such as classrooms and meetings, millions of them. In addition to the currently available (pedestrian) cannels of distribution, people will be told they can view it as an iBook if they have an iPad.
You can bet that, as people look over their shoulders to see what iPadders have access to, they will want one too. This will sell a gazillion more iPads.
Anyone know if the iBooks can be viewed on the Mac yet? If students are taking notes, and marking up their textbooks, they might like to then use that on their desktops and laptops.
Good question. I want to know the answer to this too.
Good question. I want to know the answer to this too.
No. There is no iBooks for the OS - none. The iBook Author program is only for the creation and publication of iBooks - it has no integration with the Book Store. iTunes doesn?t either and I doubt it ever will.
iBook Author is not a reader program - neither is iTunes.
Anyone know if the iBooks can be viewed on the Mac yet? If students are taking notes, and marking up their textbooks, they might like to then use that on their desktops and laptops.
Quote:
Originally Posted by diddy
No. There is no iBooks for the OS - none. The iBook Author program is only for the creation and publication of iBooks - it has no integration with the Book Store. iTunes doesn?t either and I doubt it ever will.
iBook Author is not a reader program - neither is iTunes.
This is a seriously strange omission on Apple's part and shows, in my opinion why they don't get cloud computing as well as the competition. Kindle books can be read on my iPhone, on my Mac, through a web browser, etc. I can play any music I have purchased or uploaded to Google Music through a browser or similar phone based app. I can use any music I have purchased through Amazon through the browser as well.
It appears Apple is narrowing the usuability of their solution to a range so narrow that it won't have a chance of becoming an industry wide option. They've been doing this more and more and it is bad business in my opinion and gives others an opportunity.
Agree with all here that Apple is not doing anything wrong. But I do wonder - would publishers not desire an app that allows them to create contents once and be able to distribute thru most if not all channels? When some other app comes along that's compatible with Amazon as well as iBooks, iBook Author might not be so appealing anymore.
That's my concern as well. Apple has every right to do what they are doing, but it might create an opening for Amazon to follow with a similar product that will enable would-be textbook authors to use their solution and have their work available on multiple devices such as the iPad, the Kindle Fire, Android tablets, Windows PCs, and Macs.
Apple was really thinking ahead when they first released iBooks to make it not pre-installed but a free download. They avoided any potential legal action associated with what is now an obviously very stealthy political coup.
I think this "marketing model" is only going to last a little while.
Apple obviously cares more about making the iPad (iOS) platform the distribution platform for textbooks - -which is a smart move.
In the short term, this will work. In the long term, obviously, other companies will come out with software that competes -- the apples iBook will be the "limited one" and if you were developing these textbooks, I think that you would pick one that could be used for more than one platform, even if it isn't quite as good.
So after about 6 months -- maybe Apple changes this business model.
>> I think it would be reasonable to have a "non-free" upgrade to distribute to other platforms. Hopefully it won't be too proprietary to iOS platform - likely there will be a lot of optimized effects and multimedia -- but all of that can have a reasonable alternative fallback that's more compatible.
I am not sure what the various export options are. If you can export to a .ibook file on your Mac then do something about trying to get the file onto an iPad does it work? Not just preview actually copy the file.
I don't have an iPad, but the .ibook file can be copied to an iPhone by email, I assume that you can copy it to an iPad as well. iPhone iBooks won't open it, but it does come up in the iBooks library.
That's my concern as well. Apple has every right to do what they are doing, but it might create an opening for Amazon to follow with a similar product that will enable would-be textbook authors to use their solution and have their work available on multiple devices such as the iPad, the Kindle Fire, Android tablets, Windows PCs, and Macs.
I don't think of it as a *concern*, but rather a potentially fascinating development. After all, competition is good. The fascination is - what will Apple do then?
The only problem is that right now it's the only app to generate the books - once Adobe InDesign and other apps have an 'export' for this format then it'll be fine.
I seriously doubt that all the existing textbook publishers are going to manually cut and paste their books into this new app - they'll want to generate the book from their existing tools. Anyone know what the most popular textbook publishing apps are? Framemaker, InDesign? Any sign that there are 'preview' versions of a converter/export plugin yet?
It's the only app that can generate proper iBooks and the iPad is the only device that can view them, correctly (as of now). I think textbook authors would prefer the iBooks Author app because they can add interactive and rich content into the iBook rather than hacking at it in an outside program and exporting a possibly "half completed" textbook for iBooks; with this interactive and enhanced content, they have ground to make their iPad edition book stand out from the other guy's iBook in the iBookstore, enhancing the books as more are created. This also gives another route for companies to advertise themselves to school ("We have the best book and best iBook version available.")
Plus, Apple has made iBooks Author so bloody simple that it's not a challenge to create an iBook copy of a textbook. You could have multiple less experienced (in digital book creation) people work on context and a single editor go through and fix the loose ends very quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mausz
companies already have come out (years ago) with software that competes
I had to laugh at this; I had a buddy working for Kno awhile back and almost worked there myself and didn't think of them as a competitor! The main difference is that Kno doesn't offer the rich, interactive textbooks Apple is trying to inspire publishers to create. Apple also has more influence than smaller companies like Kno, an influence that it needed to get content into their already popular bookstore. From there, the dominos fall in line (more content, more readers, which creates even more content, etc...)
I had to laugh at this; I had a buddy working for Kno awhile back and almost worked there myself and didn't think of them as a competitor! The main difference is that Kno doesn't offer the rich, interactive textbooks Apple is trying to inspire publishers to create.
It's not the same, and also not the only one, but it still competes within the same market.
Maybe rich and interactive is not what you want in a classroom (unless all ipads can be synced/controlled by the teacher (numerous systems provide this) or everyone is wearing headphones)...
It's not the same, and also not the only one, but it still competes within the same market.
Maybe rich and interactive is not what you want in a classroom (unless all ipads can be synced/controlled by the teacher (numerous systems provide this) or everyone is wearing headphones)...
You may correct that they compete in the same market, but its obvious they do not compete at the same level. Much like the decision to buy a feature phone versus a smart phone, yes they both compete in the cellphone market but at two different levels.
And your second statement is confusing. First why would you NOT want engaging and interactive content? You are talking about a generation of student whose frame of reference is the internet - which is by definition engaging and interactive. Engaging and interactive provides a level of information density AND diversity which promotes understanding and assimilation that is not present in the printed word alone.
Can you actually cite which "numerous systems" already deliver the same level of information as this does? There are already entire system set-ups which allow for customized configuration of the iPads for classroom use. Including controls, access and content management. And since most students come equiped with their own headphones - jacking in is not, even in urban schools, a significant challenge.
Are you perhaps suggesting that the chalkboard (itself an innovation at the time) and plain text is sufficient to deliver information in the most effective manner.
Further point: This of course is not definitiive by any stretch but makes my point:
Quote:
In an attempt to assess the effect of iPad textbooks on student performance, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) performed a year-long pilot program using an iPad version of the company's Algebra 1 textbook for middle school students. The study, conducted at Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside, California, saw 78% students taking the course using the iPad textbook rank as "Proficient" or "Advanced" in the subject, compared to only 58% of students using the traditional print textbook.
The first assessment of the pilot— Riverside's district Algebra benchmark –took place during the second trimester of the 2010–2011 year. Students using HMH Fuse scored an average of 10 percentage points higher than their peers. The app's impact was even more pronounced after the California Standards Test in spring 2011, on which HMH Fuse students scored approximately 20 percent higher than their textbook-using peers.
Educators noted increased motivation on the part of students using the iPad app, as well as the personal level of interactivity, as factors contributing to student success. Students also found the iPad experience more natural and put them more in charge of their own learning, factors that increased student interest and engagement.
I had dinner last night with a friend who purchased an epub book for a college course. (Obviously not an iBooks2 book).
After the course had started and the students had their books (only a couple opted for electronic versions), the instructor announced there would be open-book tests, but those with epub Textbooks would not be allowed to use their copy.
The instructor feared those students would also use the internet, and gain an unfair advantage.
Like every other tool that comes into existence, there will be some issues that arise with using the tool.
This reminds me of the advance to programmable calculators, which allowed students to store information they were expected to memorize.
In one of my daughter's Physics classes, the instructor walked around and cleared the program memory of every calculator prior to starting an exam.
She was angry, since she did not have any "cheats" on her calculator, but did have some personal data that she completely lost.
Apple should just shut everyone up by selling iBooks Author for $1,999 if they want to use Apple's free tool design for iBookstore to create other works for other distribution methods.
Apple should just shut everyone up by selling iBooks Author for $1,999 if they want to use Apple's free tool design for iBookstore to create other works for other distribution methods.
Maybe they should just give away Final Cut Pro but claim they own the exclusive rights to all the "works" created with it.
Maybe they should just give away Final Cut Pro but claim they own the exclusive rights to all the "works" created with it.
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic here but that wouldn't mirror what they are doing with iBooks Author. They simply what their cut of the product you created with the tools they developed for iBooks. It's exactly like the App Store in that you can give it away or sell it, but Apple gets 30%.
Comments
When some other app comes along that's compatible with Amazon as well as iBooks....
Oh yeah, I am betting that your pals have their copiers out in droves already.
And, sobbing while they're copying.....
I personally don't get this one. Authors who's looking to make money of the book would not want to tie themselves to the small iBookstore market only. Which means this tool will mostly be used by authors who want to distribute their work free - which means good books would be driven away (because good books usually charge money).
Nonsense. It would be distributed free in settings such as classrooms and meetings, millions of them. In addition to the currently available (pedestrian) cannels of distribution, people will be told they can view it as an iBook if they have an iPad.
You can bet that, as people look over their shoulders to see what iPadders have access to, they will want one too. This will sell a gazillion more iPads.
Anyone know if the iBooks can be viewed on the Mac yet? If students are taking notes, and marking up their textbooks, they might like to then use that on their desktops and laptops.
Good question. I want to know the answer to this too.
Good question. I want to know the answer to this too.
No. There is no iBooks for the OS - none. The iBook Author program is only for the creation and publication of iBooks - it has no integration with the Book Store. iTunes doesn?t either and I doubt it ever will.
iBook Author is not a reader program - neither is iTunes.
Anyone know if the iBooks can be viewed on the Mac yet? If students are taking notes, and marking up their textbooks, they might like to then use that on their desktops and laptops.
No. There is no iBooks for the OS - none. The iBook Author program is only for the creation and publication of iBooks - it has no integration with the Book Store. iTunes doesn?t either and I doubt it ever will.
iBook Author is not a reader program - neither is iTunes.
This is a seriously strange omission on Apple's part and shows, in my opinion why they don't get cloud computing as well as the competition. Kindle books can be read on my iPhone, on my Mac, through a web browser, etc. I can play any music I have purchased or uploaded to Google Music through a browser or similar phone based app. I can use any music I have purchased through Amazon through the browser as well.
It appears Apple is narrowing the usuability of their solution to a range so narrow that it won't have a chance of becoming an industry wide option. They've been doing this more and more and it is bad business in my opinion and gives others an opportunity.
Agree with all here that Apple is not doing anything wrong. But I do wonder - would publishers not desire an app that allows them to create contents once and be able to distribute thru most if not all channels? When some other app comes along that's compatible with Amazon as well as iBooks, iBook Author might not be so appealing anymore.
That's my concern as well. Apple has every right to do what they are doing, but it might create an opening for Amazon to follow with a similar product that will enable would-be textbook authors to use their solution and have their work available on multiple devices such as the iPad, the Kindle Fire, Android tablets, Windows PCs, and Macs.
Apple obviously cares more about making the iPad (iOS) platform the distribution platform for textbooks - -which is a smart move.
In the short term, this will work. In the long term, obviously, other companies will come out with software that competes -- the apples iBook will be the "limited one" and if you were developing these textbooks, I think that you would pick one that could be used for more than one platform, even if it isn't quite as good.
So after about 6 months -- maybe Apple changes this business model.
>> I think it would be reasonable to have a "non-free" upgrade to distribute to other platforms. Hopefully it won't be too proprietary to iOS platform - likely there will be a lot of optimized effects and multimedia -- but all of that can have a reasonable alternative fallback that's more compatible.
I am not sure what the various export options are. If you can export to a .ibook file on your Mac then do something about trying to get the file onto an iPad does it work? Not just preview actually copy the file.
I don't have an iPad, but the .ibook file can be copied to an iPhone by email, I assume that you can copy it to an iPad as well. iPhone iBooks won't open it, but it does come up in the iBooks library.
That's my concern as well. Apple has every right to do what they are doing, but it might create an opening for Amazon to follow with a similar product that will enable would-be textbook authors to use their solution and have their work available on multiple devices such as the iPad, the Kindle Fire, Android tablets, Windows PCs, and Macs.
I don't think of it as a *concern*, but rather a potentially fascinating development. After all, competition is good. The fascination is - what will Apple do then?
In the short term, this will work. In the long term, obviously, other companies will come out with software that competes
companies already have come out (years ago) with software that competes
http://www.kno.com for instance.
The only problem is that right now it's the only app to generate the books - once Adobe InDesign and other apps have an 'export' for this format then it'll be fine.
I seriously doubt that all the existing textbook publishers are going to manually cut and paste their books into this new app - they'll want to generate the book from their existing tools. Anyone know what the most popular textbook publishing apps are? Framemaker, InDesign? Any sign that there are 'preview' versions of a converter/export plugin yet?
It's the only app that can generate proper iBooks and the iPad is the only device that can view them, correctly (as of now). I think textbook authors would prefer the iBooks Author app because they can add interactive and rich content into the iBook rather than hacking at it in an outside program and exporting a possibly "half completed" textbook for iBooks; with this interactive and enhanced content, they have ground to make their iPad edition book stand out from the other guy's iBook in the iBookstore, enhancing the books as more are created. This also gives another route for companies to advertise themselves to school ("We have the best book and best iBook version available.")
Plus, Apple has made iBooks Author so bloody simple that it's not a challenge to create an iBook copy of a textbook. You could have multiple less experienced (in digital book creation) people work on context and a single editor go through and fix the loose ends very quickly.
companies already have come out (years ago) with software that competes
http://www.kno.com for instance.
I had to laugh at this; I had a buddy working for Kno awhile back and almost worked there myself and didn't think of them as a competitor! The main difference is that Kno doesn't offer the rich, interactive textbooks Apple is trying to inspire publishers to create. Apple also has more influence than smaller companies like Kno, an influence that it needed to get content into their already popular bookstore. From there, the dominos fall in line (more content, more readers, which creates even more content, etc...)
I had to laugh at this; I had a buddy working for Kno awhile back and almost worked there myself and didn't think of them as a competitor! The main difference is that Kno doesn't offer the rich, interactive textbooks Apple is trying to inspire publishers to create.
It's not the same, and also not the only one, but it still competes within the same market.
Maybe rich and interactive is not what you want in a classroom (unless all ipads can be synced/controlled by the teacher (numerous systems provide this) or everyone is wearing headphones)...
It's not the same, and also not the only one, but it still competes within the same market.
Maybe rich and interactive is not what you want in a classroom (unless all ipads can be synced/controlled by the teacher (numerous systems provide this) or everyone is wearing headphones)...
You may correct that they compete in the same market, but its obvious they do not compete at the same level. Much like the decision to buy a feature phone versus a smart phone, yes they both compete in the cellphone market but at two different levels.
And your second statement is confusing. First why would you NOT want engaging and interactive content? You are talking about a generation of student whose frame of reference is the internet - which is by definition engaging and interactive. Engaging and interactive provides a level of information density AND diversity which promotes understanding and assimilation that is not present in the printed word alone.
Can you actually cite which "numerous systems" already deliver the same level of information as this does? There are already entire system set-ups which allow for customized configuration of the iPads for classroom use. Including controls, access and content management. And since most students come equiped with their own headphones - jacking in is not, even in urban schools, a significant challenge.
Are you perhaps suggesting that the chalkboard (itself an innovation at the time) and plain text is sufficient to deliver information in the most effective manner.
Further point: This of course is not definitiive by any stretch but makes my point:
In an attempt to assess the effect of iPad textbooks on student performance, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) performed a year-long pilot program using an iPad version of the company's Algebra 1 textbook for middle school students. The study, conducted at Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside, California, saw 78% students taking the course using the iPad textbook rank as "Proficient" or "Advanced" in the subject, compared to only 58% of students using the traditional print textbook.
The first assessment of the pilot— Riverside's district Algebra benchmark –took place during the second trimester of the 2010–2011 year. Students using HMH Fuse scored an average of 10 percentage points higher than their peers. The app's impact was even more pronounced after the California Standards Test in spring 2011, on which HMH Fuse students scored approximately 20 percent higher than their textbook-using peers.
Educators noted increased motivation on the part of students using the iPad app, as well as the personal level of interactivity, as factors contributing to student success. Students also found the iPad experience more natural and put them more in charge of their own learning, factors that increased student interest and engagement.
From MacRumors here:
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/20/...ooks-for-ipad/
After the course had started and the students had their books (only a couple opted for electronic versions), the instructor announced there would be open-book tests, but those with epub Textbooks would not be allowed to use their copy.
The instructor feared those students would also use the internet, and gain an unfair advantage.
Like every other tool that comes into existence, there will be some issues that arise with using the tool.
This reminds me of the advance to programmable calculators, which allowed students to store information they were expected to memorize.
In one of my daughter's Physics classes, the instructor walked around and cleared the program memory of every calculator prior to starting an exam.
She was angry, since she did not have any "cheats" on her calculator, but did have some personal data that she completely lost.
Apple should just shut everyone up by selling iBooks Author for $1,999 if they want to use Apple's free tool design for iBookstore to create other works for other distribution methods.
Maybe they should just give away Final Cut Pro but claim they own the exclusive rights to all the "works" created with it.
Maybe they should just give away Final Cut Pro but claim they own the exclusive rights to all the "works" created with it.
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic here but that wouldn't mirror what they are doing with iBooks Author. They simply what their cut of the product you created with the tools they developed for iBooks. It's exactly like the App Store in that you can give it away or sell it, but Apple gets 30%.