Incoming first years who chose Virginia over Duke are no longer missing out on just a superior basketball program.
Incoming Duke freshmen this fall will be given free iPods courtesy of a deal between the private university and Apple, according to the Duke University Web site.
School officials said the MP3 music players can be used for educational purposes as well as entertainment.
The iPods will come preloaded with orientation materials and an academic calendar. Duke has created a Web site from which students can download course materials such as lectures, audio books and language lessons. The site can also be used to purchase music.
The deal is expected to cost Duke more than $500,000, including hiring an academic computing specialist. Freshmen who lose their iPods will have an opportunity to buy another one, and upperclassmen who take classes utilizing iPods will be loaned one.
According to the CNN/Money website, Duke students will be given the latest version of the iPod, currently retailing at $299.
Fourth-year College student Ari Anguizola said if he were given an iPod, entertainment purposes would be first in his mind.
"Mainly I'd want an iPod for music," Anguizola said. "If you can use it for class, you will use it if you have to."
He can see the potential practical applications for language classes, however.
"Would it be cheaper than having a language lab?" Anguizola asked. "It's a neat way of thinking, something creative. I like the initiative."
2004 College graduate Steve Snider, however, does not think iPods are a practical classroom aid.
"I think I'd lose it," Snider said. "I'd use it if my grade was dependent on it."
Snider said he believes the University's current Toolkit system eliminates the need for something like iPods.
"It's just as useful to post [language materials] on a toolkit. Why does it have to be portable?" Snider said. "There are easier and cheaper ways to do what they want to do."
He also thinks second years and other upperclassmen are likely to be frustrated at being left out of the pilot program.
In other higher-education-and-music-technology news, the company behind Napster 2.0 announced Monday that it has signed agreements with several universities to provide song subscriptions to students, according to CNN.com.
The universities include Cornell University, George Washington University, Middlebury College, the University of Miami, the University of Southern California and Wright State University. Penn State University and the University of Rochester in New York already have deals with Napster.
The agreements allow students unlimited streaming and music downloads. The school receives the service at a discount and may charge students at its own discretion. Both Penn State and the University of Rochester have allowed their students to use the service for free. Students wishing to make a permanent download -- such as burning a song to a CD -- must pay the same as any other Napster user.
Through such deals, both Napster and the schools hope to cut down on illegal file-sharing.
Anguizola said that if the University signed such an agreement, he would definitely take advantage of the Napster access.
Snider, however, has mixed feelings.
"[Napster] is a good thing because bands can distribute their music without a distributor," Snider said. "But it hurts record sales. Plan 9 has a hiring freeze right now because they're not making any money."
He thinks college-age people are exactly the demographic that should be paying for their music, not getting deals to download it for free.
"Twenty-somethings are the people who buy the music. You personally having 400 CDs, that happens in your 20s," Snider said. "Then again, I don't have a CD burner, so maybe that's why I don't use that stuff."
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