'iTunes U' Puts College In Your Pocket

The world of iTunes U is overwhelming. Almost to a fault. But it's kind of hard to complain about an overabundance of available material and information, so I won't. What iTunes U does is give users access to online course offerings, video lectures, audio snippets, and lots of other college-y things from their computers, iPads and iPhones. And it’s really, really cool. There’s so much content that it really is a bit difficult to navigate your way through the vast catalogs, but, as with most other academic research, once you find some things that interest you or that you’re looking for, it’s incredibly rewarding. Turns out learning things is fun, and having access to so many things to learn about on a mobile platform is really satisfying.

iTunes U has content from hundreds of institutions of higher learning from around the world, meaning there’s courses and lectures in dozens of languages. These institutions aren’t just junior colleges or online trade schools, there are classes from some pretty serious schools on here (Yale, Harvard, Oxford, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago). The app, however, is not without its flaws. Part of the reason why the amount of content is overwhelming is that not all of it is actually online courses and lectures. There’s a huge amount of videos put out by college admissions offices looking to lure in prospective students, and some of the ‘classes’ and ‘lectures’ advertised are just five minute blurbs on a particular subject.

Aside from that though, there’s some seriously killer stuff in the catalog. I was able to watch an hour long sit-down talk with two of my favorite contemporary authors (Michael Ondaatje and Michael Chabon) at the UC Berkeley library talking about everything from Louis Armstrong to Busby Berkeley. It’s things like that that really make iTunes U an awesome app not just for college students or individuals looking to further their education, but for anybody that likes to learn more about the things they like. Read our other app reviews by clicking here. AppPicker rating: 4 / 5 Stars App Store link: iTunes U