Word association time.

mp3?
iPod

podcast?
iPod

podcatcher?
iTunes

content delivery?
iTunes U

textbook publishing?
iTunes U

course management?
iTunes U

Why else would Campus Technology title its article on campus mp3’s “Is it iTime yet?”

Even the Chronicle gets in the act today, and makes it clear (via Michael Feldstein and others) that Apple’s business plan with iTunes U envisions not only a renaissance of the Mac but also massive inroads in every part of higher education’s content authoring, management, and delivery.

The iTunes U program has the potential for other functions, as well, such as selling textbooks or distributing course documents, according to some college officials who have been briefed on Apple’s plans.

“Another potential watershed is the opportunity to use the iTunes Music Store as a textbook publishing medium,” wrote Michael Feldstein, assistant director of blended learning at the SUNY Learning Network, the online program of the State University of New York, on his blog after attending a daylong briefing at Apple’s headquarters with other campus officials last month. “Apple was explicit about their goals in this regard.”

He said in an interview that Apple officials told him and other academics that the company hoped textbook publishers would sell either whole books or individual chapters online in much the same way that music labels now let users purchase an entire album or just individual tracks. That way professors could ask students to purchase pieces of different books rather than buy entire volumes. Mr. Feldstein speculated that as the screens of iPods get larger, the machines could be used as e-book readers.

At least Brian Lamb is quoted in the Chronicle piece with some salutary cautions.

Cupertino exerts a tremendous, distorting gravitational pull. I remain concerned that higher education is ready to sell its birthright for a mess of iTunes. Those leading the charge give us information gleaned from special tours, insider contacts, etc. I feel a rush of “Apple’s time has come round at last!” from folks who’ve been waiting a long time for this parousia. “Demur, you’re straightway dangerous / And handled with a chain.”

And all this triggered by a small audio/video device. Jobs, like Hollywood, understands (now) that the most powerful CPU is the one inside a dream. As a human truth, that’s one thing. As a business plan, that’s unsettling.

Perhaps I should just take my soma.