iBook Author

[Callie Del Noire]

Apple just put out a massively useful tool in making books on the Mac, in many ways it looks better and more simplified than my favorite writing app (Scrivener) BUT there are some major problems with it.

First off. There are exactly SIX templates and all of them are very much focused on textbook creation. That is definitely a point considering they are pushing cheap iPad textbooks, (Like.. 15.00 bucks for a multimedia formated ebook, we're talking movies, HTML formated widgets and so on). It's a 1.0 release, so I expect that to grow over time.

The thing that really hit me (from the POV of someone looking to e-publish) is that the OUTPUT of the iBook Author app is restricted to the iBookstore by the way their EULA is written. IE.. your effort and creation is restricted to Apple's store only. I hope that changes because I like the feel of it and I'm all for streamlining the epublishing process.

BUT I don't like the idea of restricting myself to one vendor. If I ever e-publish.. I want to put it on Amazon, Apple, Smashwords and anyone else who will take it.. cause I know this.. e-books aren't a big thing..won't be for YEARS.. so I want to spread my efforts over the world wide net.

Apples Eductation Announcement: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1201oihbafvpihboijhpihbasdouhbasv/event/index.html

Ars Technica evaulation of the EULA: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/01/enthusiasm-for-ibooks-author-marred-by-licensing-format-issues.ars

if I'm misunderstanding this.. PLEASE point out my mistakes.

Me, if I was Apple, I'd let it be outputted to epub (with a possible hit on some of the features) secure in the knowledge that you can publish RIGHT to the iBookstore with a literal push of a button. It's the path of least resistance, you're already on the inside loop of the track.

I do like that they are apparently looking to promote iTunes U a bit more.. which has some really AWESOME lectures and classes up for FREE already.

[Vekseid]

Apple's official catchphrase was "Think Different" and their unofficial motto is "Thought Crime Shall Be Punished"

Apple has a long history of doing something impressive, putting shackles on it, and having that bite them in the ass later as the rest of the world moves on.

My suspicion is Jobs learned, the hard way, from those mistakes, and his recent finesse at doing 'just enough' was knowledge bought and paid for. Apple's new leadership might not be quite so wise.

[Callie Del Noire]

I'm HOPING that it was a snafu like one of the Yahoo website EULAs that MS put out that allowed them use any content posted on their sites as promotional material without permission of the creator.

[Callie Del Noire]

I do like the new iTunes courses. It's a more intergrated package of information, course data, lectiures and such that the old video/audio files of the old iTunes U.

I've downloaded a few courses, and aside from a few apps and in the case of the history courses, several books, it's really inexpensive. Even considering the books for the history course, the cost is a bit less than my current online courses with the school I'm at.

I'm curious to see how the iTunes U app and courses evolve and how schools interact with the idea that Apple is trying to put out.

[Anjasa]

That'd be a real shame for them to hamstring it like that. Hopefully that'll change - I don't imagine that many authors would want to exclude a huge chunk of the market by being unable to sell through other vendors.