From iPods to iPhones, Apple has made its mark on the lives of many college students.

Now the UW is partnering with the company to become the latest in a series of universities to utilize a new aspect of Apple's iTunes software.

Starting this summer, the UW will have its own branded storefront on iTunes, aptly titled iTunes U. The site will allow students, faculty, administrators and the general public to access media and other information posted to the site by members of the UW's community. Apple will provide as much as 500 GB of storage available for use.

Bill Corrigan, emerging technology project manager for the UW Computing and Communications, said the service will be provided by Apple free of charge and will be an easy way to share information.

"The service is designed for people to easily post content," Corrigan said. "It will be available to all members of the UW community as well as being easily accessible for the general public."

Content posted to the service could be wide in range; however, information pertaining to the community and education will be the main focus, said Harry Hayward, media relations director of electronic media and special programs.

"Typical content could be podcast lectures, short films or commercials about the University," Hayward said. "What we put out there is what the public will want."

Not everything posted to the service will be available to the general public, however, as some material will be either class-or University-specific.

"One side is the public site where everyone can have access, and the other side is a private, content-restricted site, specific to certain groups," Corrigan said. "A class could have their own site where only members of that course would have access."

Project managers will rely on input from the community to tailor the site to fit a wide variety of needs. They also hope students will make their voices heard in the development process.

"We will be having open meetings to help shape the service and get it going," Corrigan said. "We want to do whatever we can to get students to participate as well."

The UW will make its iTunes U site live for beta content by the end of next month.

"Our goal is to have the public site ready for this summer, while we will be working on the security for the private portion to be ready for next fall," Corrigan said.

The UW will be the sixth university to offer the service, following on the heels of other Pac-10 schools like Stanford and the UC Berkley.

Reach reporter Brad Zimmerman at news@thedaily.washington.edu.