*Browsing* iTunes University

Question

I recently discovered iTunes U and have been downloading a number of lectures, but I'd like to find more stuff in areas I'm interested in and iTunes U seems to want none of it.

When I select a category of content to choose from - let's say Science -> Physics - the only choices for browsing I seem to have are "Featured" and "New and Notable." I've looked around online and discovered that even the "See All" for these sections only shows a subsection of the entire collection for that category. There doesn't seem to be a regular "Browse" option like you would expect to find in such an application.

Or is there? Does anyone here know if there is such a feature and, if so, where I can find it?

Answer 1

The iTunesU seems to be missing as a Store category for store-wide browsing.

I'm with you in that I wish there was an easier way to scan by topic, but you can get a slightly better list/starting point by using the "Quick Links" and starting with "Universities & Colleges" or "Beyond Campus." From there you get a full list of schools/programs, which when combined with the back button is easier to surf through than the iTunesU landing page.

Answer 2

Apple's iTunes University interface does seem to discourage browsing (truncated lecture names, very limited interface).

One alternative I found useful was to look up the site of the university you're most interested in, as they will usually list their iTunes U content, and often in a more browsable / user-friendly way.

In my case, I was interested in Computer Science-y topics from MIT OpenCourseWare, and found their site much more browsable than iTunes U: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Answer 3

The best way I've found is to navigate to 'power search' and search by keyword.

Answer 4

Now in 2012 the Apple web site has easy-to-browse iTunes U Preview web pages, though the only way I can find them is through a web search on

itunes U preview + subject or school name

Crude hack, but it works: If you paste this link in a browser, it will (you may have to set your browser to permit this) open the iTunes store with column browser (a much more browsable interface) turned on:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/itunes-u-science-ecology/id40000090?mt=10

From there, you can choose Categories and Subcategories.

Also, I like this web site:

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

which can be browsed many different ways.

Otherwise I suggest a web search on "online lectures" plus the school or topic you are interested in.

I agree with izakaya27 : the iTunes U interface is nearly useless. It's curious that Apple, with its "insanely great" reputation, could release such an interface, and leave it unimproved for 18 months and 1 major and 17 minor releases.

Good luck!