Quote:
Originally Posted by wraylewis
When I worked at the Apple store, many many parents created iTunes accounts for their kids with gift cards.
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iTunes TOS says,
This iTunes Service is available for individuals aged 13 years or older. If you are 13 or older but under the age of 18, you should review this Agreement with your parent or guardian to make sure that you and your parent or guardian understand it. (Interestingly, doesn't say that the parents have to agree to the terms. It doesn't even say that the parents *must* be told. So Apple is willing to do business with people who can't be held financially responsible for their actions?)
It also says:
Your use of the Services includes the ability to enter into agreements and/or to make transactions electronically.
Not sure I understand the "or" there... what, people can use the service if they can make electronic transactions but not legally enter agreements?
I tried checking the TOS for iBooks specifically. You can't even get the TOS without downloading & installing the iTunes software. (Can't do that at work.) They don't want non-customers to know what their rules are.
iTunes works on pretty much any computer. iBooks, however, are only available on portable devices. So: A ~$400-600 tablet, a phone that requires a contract children can't enter, or possibly an iPod Touch.
The point is not, "kids can't ever buy ebooks!" It's that kids can't easily & simply buy ebooks they way they can pbooks; only kids from wealthy families have access to them, or kids who are tech-savvy enough to cope with installing multiple types of software and navigating several sites. While the devices have gotten cheap enough to be available to almost anyone, the set of restrictions on use and payment will keep ebooks from being the resource for geeky kids that the library was for a lot of us--and with many libraries shutting down, this is a problem.
Unless the internet as a whole figures out how to let the majority of teenagers participate economically, ebooks-for-kids will be toys-on-parents'-tablets, not their window into self-directed education and entertainment.
(They can, of course, pirate the books. Learning to pirate is no harder than learning to download legit books--and has less barriers to them; they're not asked for a credit card number. Of course, convincing them to start buying after several years of pirating is difficult.)