iTunes is not just for buying music. As a small business owner, there’s a wealth of information available through iTunes and most of it is free. You don’t need to own an iPod, you can download the files to your computer and listen using your computer’s speakers.
- iTuneU
- podcasts
- business books and newspapers
iTunesU
You can download over 250,000 lectures from universities and other educational institutions that includes video, PDFs, and mp3s about every conceivable subject. Unlike music selections, the content in the iTunesU section is free.
You can listen to the selection on your computer immediately, download to iTunes and listen later on your computer or set the selection to synchronize with your iPod.
To access iTunes U, simply click on the selection in the iTunes main menu.
You can choose from a list of subjects from hundreds of institutions that will give knowledge that will help with your business. You can download all the sessions that have been published to date and subscribe to be notified when new sessions are posted.
Web 2.0 Marketing Communications is an example of the type of information you can expect. You can read a description of the offering and see which sessions have been posted, who the originator is and how long the session is.
Podcasts
The term podcast was first mentioned in The Guardian newspaper in 2004. It’s a combination of “playable on demand” and broadcasting.
Podcasts have traditionally been audio, but video is becoming more popular. There are podcasts available for just about any kind of business subject.
Subscribe to a podcast series to have the latest session downloaded to iTunes and then synchronize to your iPod.
Books and Newspapers
Finally, you can purchase business books and newspaper subscriptions from iTunes in audio format. Turn your time at the gym or a commute between business business meetings into productive business research time.
With a little bit of planning, you can fit business research into even the busiest day.
