From KAREN wiki

About iTunes U

iTunes U is a fantastic service. There is an increasing depth and range of material from education and research establishments all around the world. Audio and video podcasts are available free of charge on every aspect of the curriculum.

Apple's website has more information.

In New Zealand, University of Otago and University of Auckland are leading the way in podcasting material via iTunes U. The University of Waikato has also recently joined iTunesU.

In Australia ANU led the way with a trial. Now all Australian content on iTunes U is hosted at the universities involved so can be considered an 'on net' resource for the R & E communities.

iTunes U on NRENs

The rich nature and diveristy of iTunes U content - particularly video podcasts - makes it particularly well suited for access of global research and education networks. Depending upon the endcoding approach used, video podcasts can be c. 250 MB per hour.

It is currently the case that international iTunes U content is hosted at the member institutions which gives us (Members and NRENs) control and makes it on-net to the majority of our KAREN (and other NREN) members. Some US-based content is also hosted directly by the member and therefore is on-net, eg the Research Channel.

Both the international and Research Channel iTunes U presences work the same way: by providing the iTunes U store with an RSS feed and then storing the content on the host member servers.

However, it appears that a couple of obstacles remain before peace-of-mind NREN access to iTunes U is established:

• Most of the US iTunes U content is distributed via Apple's Akamai content distribution network - neither this network, or Apple, is peered directly with the NRENs in the US.
• Ensuring end-user clarity that content they download will come over the NREN (or removing this consideration as a concern).

The community continues to engage with Apple on this issue.