Duke University, this fall, plans to provide freshmen with iPods. While I know many friends who would love to get their hands on one (an iPod .. come to thinbk of it maybe also a Duke degreee), this is not the prescribed method of getting one. The easiest course is to buy one at your local friendly electronic delearship. ($250 onwards). The iPod is unarguably the best of the high capacity mp3 players around .. though it's high price tag keeps it from the public. (And also mainatins its elitist image).
Digression performed, lets get back to the main theme. I doubt Duke had anticipated the kind of publicity this announcement has made. 1650 lucky freshmen will get 20Gb iPods .. which will cost Duke a whopping half a million dollars!! While the main aim is to make academic use of the gadgets, I doubt that will be the case. The 2 parties to benefit most are (a) The Freshmen and (b) Apple .. though that is not the order I have in mind. For Apple .. this marks overcoming of a major hurdle .. and signifies the entry (theoretically atleast) of the iPod into markets with uses other than listening to music. (Also I wonder how many Duke freshmen already own iPods?) Definitely more than the national average .. with $40,000 a year in fees .. $250 is like .. affordable.
Duke students will receive models stocked with school-related information, including freshman orientation details, the academic calendar, campus tours and even the school's fight song. The university also will create a Web site modeled on the Apple iTunes online music site from which students can download songs and course content from faculty, including language lessons, lectures and audio books.
Related:
Duke iPod FAQ. [Link]
Hirak writes abt the same. [Link]
Post title courtsey: Patrix. [Link]
Posted by anya at July 27, 2004 12:31 PM | TrackBack
If I could afford to go to Duke, I think I'd already have an iPod (or two) already!!!
Posted by: Varun at July 28, 2004 12:34 AMHow u been?Whats with the job scene.I wrote a poem.U have to do some html coding for me,tell me how to put links to other blogs on mine or is there an existing template.I m dying to surf ol frens....
Posted by: Equinox at July 28, 2004 03:24 AMVarun: with $40,000 a year in fees .. $250 is like .. affordable. .. thats what i meant.
Posted by: anya at July 28, 2004 02:47 PM:-)
I was just agreeing with you. I was saying that if that was an incentive for students, it didn't make much sense. If you could afford to go to Duke, you wouldn't make your choice based on whether you were getting a free iPod or not.
Posted by: Varun at July 29, 2004 04:36 PM