Launch iTunes U link broken on iPad 1, verify or help?

Question

Level 1

15 points

Launch iTunes U link broken on iPad 1, verify or help?

Problem summary:

I just noticed this today after a bug report on an unrelated service and me trying to recommend our iTunes U public site as a better option for their needs.

Problem description:

We have a landing page at http://itunes.iu.edu/ for the Indiana University public iTunes U site. There is a "Launch IU on iTunes U" link on that page. This link is in this form:

https://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browsev2/indiana-public

Expected:

Previously, on the desktop this would launch the iTunes app on Mac or PC, open the iTunes U Store page, and go to the Indiana University iTunes U store front page.

On iOS, this would fire up the iTunes app, and select the Indiana University iTunes U store front page shown here on iPhone4 iOS 5.0.1:

http://i.imgur.com/8spDn.png

Actual:

Behavior on the Mac/PC desktop is the same.

Behavior on the iPhone (tested on iPhone4 iOS 5.0.1) is the same.

Behavior on iPad (tested on iPad 1 iOS 5.0.1) is different. Instead, it goes to a totally different page shown here:

http://i.imgur.com/2Nyhk.png

And whenever you click a "collection" you get two error notifications in sequence:

http://i.imgur.com/R5A6b.png

Then after dismissing, this:

http://i.imgur.com/wlZek.png

Steps to reproduce:

On iPad 1 with latest stable iOS 5 release, visit http://itunes.iu.edu/ in Safari app
Click "Launch IU on iTunes U" link
See difference mentioned above

Information/Action requested:

Is this an iTunes U bug? The link used is the same.

Is this an iPad bug? Doubtful, but I don't have an iPad2 to test on.

Is this an iOS bug? Seems doubtful since it works fine on the iPhone, but who knows.

Is this an iPad1, iOS 5.0.1 specific bug? Seems rare, but would give me a reason to reply as "i have no clue how to fix this" to our bug reports.

Is there a fix in the works? Link to mention of a fix very much appreciated.

Thanks, and I hope the new year is filled thus far with fewer bugs than mine!

Cheers,

David P @ IU

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM

Posted on Jan 3, 2012 12:23 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Duncan Bernhardt

Level 3

870 points

Jan 4, 2012 3:49 PM in response to davpoind

David-

In reviewing your post we see that your current live site is an older iTunes U public site. You have already transitioned your site to an iTunes U Public Site Manager based site but have not published. For maximum compatibility we would recommend you publish your the iTunes U Public Site Manager based version of your site. This will update the look and feel of your site to match other public sites, your site will be re-added to the iTunes U directory in iTunes U in the iTunes Store and it allow you to further customize the end-user experience for iOS users.

For more information on iTunes U Public Site Manager please review the following documentation - http://deimos.apple.com/rsrc/doc/UsingiTunesUPublicSiteManager/Introduction/chap ter_1_section_1.html

-Regards

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Answer 2

davpoind Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 9, 2012 8:12 AM in response to Duncan Bernhardt

That was the fix, indeed!

Also, the Public Site Manager... really awesome job on the design and ease of use. Congrats!

For anyone wondering, here are some things to know about migrating:

Have a backup of your Section/Category artwork, you can't pull these off your existing iTunes U store, and the PSM doesn't import them.
PSM automatically populates your categories based on tags within a collection feed itself. All mine reported as "iTunesU" so I manually tagged and made category pages for now.
The publishing process can take quite a while, but you can do previews of everything as you work. Once I published, it took several hours, but subsequent changes have only been minutes.

Good luck to anyone migrating, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Message was edited by: davpoind

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