Duke University Students Receive iPods

DSLAMngu writes "Freshman students at Duke University received their complimentary/paid for (however you want to look at it) iPod portable music players on Thurday. This deal was previously mentioned on /. here. After waiting in line, I eventually got my Duke-engraved iPod at about 9:00 PM with the rest of the freshmen at Brown dorm. I've written about the experience at my blog, and also included a copy of the Program Agreement and some photos of what the students received."

Comments

Re:Blog web design

[dan dan the dna man]

A good excuse not to RTFA in my opinion :) Not that anyone does. Actually not that I did after being assaulted aurally and visually with that.

Why?

[aussie_a]

My first response was WHY would anyone want this (not including students)? Then it hit me. Apple wants it because 1. They've made a profit. 2. If this catches on they can tap into people they otherwise wouldn't have. The university wants it because now they can say to future people considering which university to go to "look our cool and high-tech we are." Win-win for everyone.

Re:Why?

[BasilBrush]

Because they are experimenting with a new tool for learning. Maybe they'll get lots of worthwhile educational use out of it and they'll do it again, and other universities might follow them. Maybe it'll turn out to be a flop and it'll be the only year it's tried.

Don't think an iPod can be a tool for learning? How many song lyrics do you know reasonably well? Tens, hundreds, thousands? Why is that? Partly because the rhythm and meter of the music forms a repetitive framework in which you can fit the words. But mainly because you listen to ones you like over and over again.

Hey, 10 years ago I was doing a degree with the Open University in England - which is a distance learning setup. And part of the package was audio tapes.

Maybe Duke will manage to harness this potential for learning through hearing repeatedly, maybe they won't. But we don't progress unless someone tries it and reports back. (That could be a motto for slashdot!)

so what..

[Pidder]

So what if they received their iPod. In one way or another they will pay for it in their tuition fee.

The significance

[scum-e-bag]

Sorry, but I still fail to see the significance of this story. What makes a small bunch of kids getting an iPod for free significant.

Could it be possible that the kids are being used as unsuspecting testers, to see what hacks they can come up with to beat copyprotection, or could it be to see what new, unsuspecting, unthought of and marketable ideas that come out of using it in ways that it was not originally intended for.

Lectures as MP3?

[bhima]

Will the lectures be available as MP3?

Otherwise what's the point?

I'm surprised at Duke's admissions standards.

[tiktokfx]

How did someone who could create that monstrosity of a log style be honestly evaluated as a suitable candidate for acceptance at Duke?

wake forest=#1 cool tech toys in acc

[defective_warthog]

Incoming Wakies get think pads. 2008 specs
Now that's cool...

iPod your DUKE!

[autopr0n]

Wow, this is just absolutly facinating for people who are not freshman at Duke Univ. It dosn't sound like more needless iPod promotion on /. Nope, not at all.

eBay

[ka55ad]

I just checked ebay and I am surprised that I haven't found any "Limited Edition Duke iPod's" for sale yet.

Bad idea

[kitzilla]

Okay, I'll be the Luddite here. Flame away and mod me down.

First, I love digital music and have my entire library in iTunes.

Duke's iPod program is a stupid idea. It's a recruitment perk with little legitimate educational value.

If Duke thinks Mr. Undergrad is going to be listening to Professor Flatulent's geology lecture while out jogging instead of paging through their Audioslave tracks, they've got another thing coming. If they believe Miss Undergrad will be up late studying, rather than melting the university's WAN swapping MP3s, Duke is in for a rude awakening.

Virtually all Duke students will have their own PCs. If the school wants to distribute MP3 instruction or event calendars, there's already an infrastructure to support it.

There are plenty of kids who can't even afford the tuition for community college (thank you, Mr. Bush). The price of an iPod would cover 3 semester hours at most of these institutions. If Duke really wants to do something to improve their campus' test scores, they should put a couple dozen kids who can't afford their University into a year's community college and offer scholarships to those who really distinguish themselves.

What's next? University supplied Gameboys?

Re:Blog web design

[R.Mo_Robert]

If you think your mind is numb from the animated GIFs, whatever you do, don't to a View > Page Source! The first tag is a ... a ... TABLE!

(Yes, that's right, there's supposedly a table before even the opening HTML tag.)