We've loaded iTunesU with all our great content. Now we want to surface that content elsewhere.

Notes on referencing iTunesU content (feeds and files) within iTunesU, and on web pages outside of iTunesU. That is, how to avoid duplicating iTunesU content on other Web servers.

Linking inside iTunesU

From any iTunesU page you can link to another podcast within iTunes—whether within your own iTunesU site, some other iTunesU site, or anywhere in the iTunes Store—by navigating to the remote podcast in the iTunes Store or iTunesU. Right-click on the title of the remote podcast page and choose "Copy iTunes Store URL". It will look like this:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=129950576
Use a text editor to change the prefix from http: to itms: such as
itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=129950576
This will cause the link to open within iTunesU instead of in the default web browser.

Subscribing to an iTunesU feed from other podcatchers

All course tabs in iTunesU provide a podcast RSS feed. With minor adjustments it can be used by "podcatchers" other than iTunes:

1. Navigate in iTunes U to the "Course" containing your podcast
2. Click on the tab for which you want to get the feed
3. Right-click on the "Subscribe" button and "Copy iTunes Store URL"
4. Paste the link into a text editor to verify it matches this pattern:
   http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Feed/wm.edu.1392570697.01392570704
5. Now you have the link to the RSS Feed.  Provide this link to the world !!! 

Caveat: If you right-click on the "tab" of the feed instead of the "Subscribe" button, you get a link (which only works in iTunes) like this:

http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/BrowsePrivately/wm.edu.1392570697.01392570704

Simply "/BrowsePrivately/" to "/Feed/" and you're all set with:

http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Feed/wm.edu.1392570697.01392570704


Creating a link directly to one file in iTunesU

To get the URL of one specific file (for linking and embedding outside of iTunes):

1. iTunesU navigate to the course and tab containing the file
2. Right-click the "Get" button to the right of the file in question, and choose "Copy iTunes Store URL" to get a link that works only within iTunes:
   https://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/BrowsePrivately/wm.edu.1392570697.01392570704.1392620480?i=1730033769
3. Paste the link into a text editor and change "/BrowsePrivately/" to "/FeedEnclosure/" as such:
   https://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/FeedEnclosure/wm.edu.1392570697.01392570704.1392620480?i=1730033769
4. Now you have the link to the file.  Provide this link to the world !!!

Final Comment

For RSS, podcasting and file downloading, these methods work, regardless of media type (audio, video, pdf). Embedding MP3 audio files from iTunesU onto a web page also works well. But embedding video files is not as great. The videos download fine, but won't start playback prior to completing download. As this is only a problem with video (audio works fine) we have a YouTube EDU site where we upload videos that need to be embedded.