Mac-onomics

Apple Computer finds that its Macintosh computers are gaining popularity on campuses thanks to the growing use of iPods for both entertainment and education. Apple officials have recently reached out to colleges to try to encourage educational uses for iPods. The latest example is iTunes U, a program that encourages colleges to distribute recorded lectures and other course materials using the company’s free iTunes software, which is used to manage and play music and video files and to transfer them to iPods. Participating colleges essentially get a private section of the popular iTunes Music Store that only their students and faculty members can access, where they can download academic material rather than the newest recordings by Coldplay or the latest skit from Saturday Night Live. Apple officials have told some academic leaders that the company might expand the program so that publishers can sell textbooks or course packets through the iTunes store as well. (The Chronicle)