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[Ripclawe]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/21/technology/duke_ipod/

Free iPods for Duke students

College says popular MP3 music players will be used to download lectures and books as well as songs.
July 21, 2004: 10:37 AM EDT



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Duke University will give Apple iPods to its incoming freshmen, with school officials saying the popular MP3 music players can be used for educational purposes as well as entertainment.

DAMN IT.. All I got was directions to the bookstore so they could take me for 300 bucks a term..

 

[Tritroid]

oh. my. god.

Ten bucks says they tacked the price into their tuition though, unbeknownst to them.

 

[human5892]

My college charges me for paper I print reports on. Kids at Duke get an iPod.

Boo-urns.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Ugh, who'd want an iPod. Are they trying to push students away?

 

[Winged Creature]

Ugh, who'd want an iPod. Are they trying to push students away?

resale value??

 

[Matlock]

My college charges me for paper I print reports on. Kids at Duke get an iPod.

Boo-urns.

Haha, must suck there. I printed out the entire Dungeons and Dragons handbook for a binder one time, and didn't get charged.

 

[Nerevar]

oh. my. god.

Ten bucks says they tacked the price into their tuition though, unbeknownst to them.

Tuition was raised this year ....

but then again, they raise it every year.



/Just glad I don't have to pay THEM anymore money ... now just the debt collectors


and before everyone points out how they wasted money and could've gotten X media player for Y less money, I know people who were involved with this at OIT. They inentionally chose the iPod, knowit wasn't the most efficient choice, because they wanted to give people a piece of equipment they actually used. Hence, the iPod was really the best choice.

 

[human5892]

Ugh, who'd want an iPod. Are they trying to push students away?

Yes, they're trying to make students steer clear of their College by offering them free merchandise. You got it exactly right. Good thinking.

 

[Teknopathetic]

If only it was free *good* merchandise.

 

[dark10x]

If only it was free *good* merchandise.

So, what exactly is wrong with an iPod?

It is durable hardware which can play music. The biggest problem has been the price, but that isn't an issue here.

 

[Teknopathetic]

The price, the limitations (not talking file size here), the style, and again, the price. Couple that with a battery you have to void your warranty to replace and the fact that it doesn't last particularly long in the first place and you've got a wonky product. But alas, I don't mean to turn this into a iPod bashing thread.

 

[Incognito]

Why are people responding to the obtuse troll, Tre? Let him live in his elitist world by himself.

 

[FnordChan]

News flash: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to send all incoming freshmen over to Duke to mug their incoming freshmen and take their shiny new iPods.

FnordChan

 

[sc0la]

The price, the limitations (not talking file size here), the style, and again, the price. Couple that with a battery you have to void your warranty to replace and the fact that it doesn't last particularly long in the first place and you've got a wonky product. But alas, I don't mean to turn this into a iPod bashing thread.

two of your main contentions get tossed out the window when its free (price and price)

thats two of your six reasons, a third of which is subjective.

This is something apple set up as a merketing plow, nothing less, nothing more, I wouldn't be surprised if they donated some money in addition to the iPods. I doubt Duke thinks down;oading lectures on the device is the future of higher education.

 

[LinesInTheSand]

The price, the limitations (not talking file size here), the style, and again, the price. Couple that with a battery you have to void your warranty to replace and the fact that it doesn't last particularly long in the first place and you've got a wonky product. But alas, I don't mean to turn this into a iPod bashing thread.

Heh, you sound like the typical internet elitist. "OMG, IPOD IS POPULAR SO I MUST HATE IT!!!" Freaking tard.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"two of your main contentions get tossed out the window when its free (price and price)"

In this situation, sure, unless you consider the rise in tuition, which does anyway, but either way, it's no different for going to a different school and buying an iPod. Note, how dark10x asked what was wrong with the iPod in general, however, and not in this situation. Even so, the others are more valid than the price and style. Since obviously suckers are born every day to drop the money on an iPod.

LinesInTheSand: Where do any of my complaints mention the popularity of it, or is that just conjecture? I'd save your insults for yourself, you're clearly more qualified. See, scola had the right idea when he actually talked about my points instead of ignoring them and trying to pull out some ad hominem. Perhaps you should pipe down some?

 

[Winged Creature]

they should just sell the player and get something better, thats what i would do

 

[border]

I never understood it when schools do hokey promotions like this. Most people realize that the cost is just secretly tacked onto their tuition.....and aren't really going to base their choice of college on which school is giving away the most free crap.

 

[Doth Togo]

Ten bucks says they tacked the price into their tuition though, unbeknownst to them.

Shit, I bet they tacked more than the price of the iPod to their tuition. IIRC, they also mandate that the students have a laptop given to them by the university or one that meets certain standards. All in all, it means more money for the school and more tuition for the students.

I think undergrad at Duke is over US$30,000 per year now.

 

[Doth Togo]

News flash: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to send all incoming freshmen over to Duke to mug their incoming freshmen and take their shiny new iPods.

FnordChan

Ownage. Dean Smith fuhevah....

Fuhevah.

 

[SteveMeister]

Also from the article:

The school has set up a Web site modeled on Apple's iTunes music site that will allow students to download recorded lectures, audio books, language lessons and other course content.

The iPods will also come preloaded with freshman orientation material and the academic calendar.

Pretty handy features. Apple's iTunes On Campus at work.

 

[Chipopo]

Ugh, who'd want an iPod. Are they trying to push students away?

If only it was free *good* merchandise.

But alas, I don't mean to turn this into a iPod bashing thread.

lol

 

[FnordChan]

Ownage. Dean Smith fuhevah....

FnordChan

 

[Nerevar]

also, it's important to note that the Duke network has been practically crushed over the past ~3 years because of file sharing. 2 years ago it was almost unusable for things like online games. I played a lot of battle.net back then, and I'd disconnect roughly every 3rd game I played. They put in an upload cap last year, which really helped the problem, but not that well. I think this will make it easier for them to fully block all file-sharing software (which not only helps save the network, but also leaves them less liable to lawsuits), a major concern now that several students at the school were targets of the RIAA during the lawsuits. Giving everyone an iPod and easy access to iTunes will lessen the impact of a full file-sharing block.

 

[sc0la]

"two of your main contentions get tossed out the window when its free (price and price)"

In this situation, sure, unless you consider the rise in tuition, which does anyway, but either way, it's no different for going to a different school and buying an iPod. Note, how dark10x asked what was wrong with the iPod in general, however, and not in this situation. Even so, the others are more valid than the price and style. Since obviously suckers are born every day to drop the money on an iPod.

Hey, I was just giving you a hard time. And we have no clue whether or not the price is built into tuition or if Apple donated them, again I would guess the latter, but I have not seen an indication either way.

 

[bionic77]

Wow, some people really hate Apple products......

I was never a big fan of Apple even though they have made better stuff then MS for a long time. XP was the first MS OS that I really liked and imho put them on equal footing with Apple, last Apple product I had was a Apple II back in the 80s. Since then, I have always gone with MS run computers becaue of the software and the high price. I have to say that so far I think the Ipod is pretty much perfect though and I can't imagine using another mp3 player or hell even living without it now. It will be interesting to see whether or not Apply can keep their market lead this time or if history will repeat itself.

 

[Nerevar]

I have to say that so far I think the Ipod is pretty much perfect though and I can't imagine using another mp3 player or hell even living without it now. It will be interesting to see whether or not Apply can keep their market lead this time or if history will repeat itself.

Here's the thing with the iPod - like all apple products, you get much less for the money than you can with other MP3 players (in all fairness, this is relatively recently). But Apple is doing great with the iPod, and that is that in general people who buy it think they are buying "creativity in a box" so to speak. Their design reinforces this, with it's sleek and easy-to-use interface. That and the proprietary format music that apple sells through iTunes (only works on iPods or other licensed products!) are why I tell everyone to not buy an iPod if they can.

 

[bionic77]

Here's the thing with the iPod - like all apple products, you get much less for the money than you can with other MP3 players (in all fairness, this is relatively recently). But Apple is doing great with the iPod, and that is that in general people who buy it think they are buying "creativity in a box" so to speak. Their design reinforces this, with it's sleek and easy-to-use interface. That and the proprietary format music that apple sells through iTunes (only works on iPods or other licensed products!) are why I tell everyone to not buy an iPod if they can.

That is your opinion, but really the best thing about Ipod is the interface and iTunes and that is why I was willing to pay a premium for those things. I personally think those things make the Ipod the best mp3 player out there, but if Apple doesn't let others to come in and make it cheaper then someone else will just rip off what they did, open it up, and make it cheaper and Ipod will die the same death that Apple computers did.

 

[dark10x]

The price, the limitations (not talking file size here), the style, and again, the price. Couple that with a battery you have to void your warranty to replace and the fact that it doesn't last particularly long in the first place and you've got a wonky product. But alas, I don't mean to turn this into a iPod bashing thread.

OK, I can understand some of those points...but I'm not really a big supporter of it anyways, so it doesn't matter. I just figured that a free iPod would kick ass, regardless of how you feel about the product.

What various types of HD based MP3 player do you prefer?

 

[xsarien]

The price, the limitations (not talking file size here), the style, and again, the price. Couple that with a battery you have to void your warranty to replace and the fact that it doesn't last particularly long in the first place and you've got a wonky product. But alas, I don't mean to turn this into a iPod bashing thread.

Yeah, take it from a man who thought the Spy vs. Spy ads were CG.

Seriously, they're free, "style" is purely a matter of opinion, and it seems a majority of the public disagrees with you; the battery arguments are pretty shallow when you consider that the iPod can go for about 12 hours on a single charge.

And last I checked, although your average student is just scraping by, electricity is still available in most dorms and off campus apartments.

ANYWAY...

A free iPod is definitely cool. All I got when I got shuttled off to college was an obviously very sheltered roommate from Connecticut.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Dark10x: Have you never read my posts? I don't really care for any HD-based MP3 player, although, the price of the apple is what particularly gets a lot of gruff from me.

 

[dark10x]

Dark10x: Have you never read my posts? I don't really care for any HD-based MP3 player, although, the price of the apple is what particularly gets a lot of gruff from me.

Regarding MP3 players? No, I haven't...

Do you simply avoid portable music then? MP3 CDs are nice for the car but not necessarily for a small music device and flash memory players are way too small. MD kicks ass, though...but that's a bit different.

I managed to find a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 30gb player for even less than what was posted the other day (just $169) and decided to give it a shot. I already have access to other types of players, but since I have like 70gb of MP3s, I needed something with some serious capacity but didn't want to spend too much. I honestly haven't had too much experience with any HD based players, though, so I'm a bit worried. :\

 

[Teknopathetic]

<-- MD fanboy. Currently waiting for Hi-MDs to come out. 28-ish hours using Hi-LP on one disc? Why not.

 

[Kuroyume]

St. John's University gives freshmen and transfer students IBM Thinkpads.

 

[dark10x]

<-- MD fanboy. Currently waiting for Hi-MDs to come out. 28-ish hours using Hi-LP on one disc? Why not.

28 hours eh? Not bad...

Still, that's just not enough. I want to be able to carry a large portion of my music collection around...and 28 hours wouldn't cover that much.

 

[SteveMeister]

Regardless how you feel about iPods in particular, I think that the reasons Duke has for giving them out, and what they're offering students in conjunction with them, are good. I think it's a great idea. Read the article, and I'm not sure how one could disagree unless it's simply to bash Apple and/or iPod.

 

[MrPing1000]

good to see bribery is alive and well

 

[Teknopathetic]

Well, that's of course the medium quality setting (and correction, it's 34 hours) , the lowest quality (which sony says is the same quality as a 128kbps MP3) is like 45-ish or so hours. The media's still pretty expensive, though (7 bucks a disc) but 68 or so hours on 2 discs is nice. I don't think I have much more than 30 hours, however, I'm an extremely picky person.

Different Strokes.

 

[Winged Creature]

Hi-MD it is for me!!

 

[wandering goat]

Doesn't Sony say that Hi-LP is the one that's comparable to 128 kbps MP3s? Anyway, the battery power and overall durability of MD players is nice but I think HD players beat them in most other categories.

 

[Teknopathetic]

From the stuff I'm reading from Sony (and of course, this IS what they're saying, it may or may not be true), they're saying that Hi-LP (Atrac3Plus) is on par with a 292kbps MP3 and that Hi-SP is CD quality.


HD players in general hold more data, it's true (however, I dunno how much that means in actual hours. How many hours does a 20gb iPod supposedly hold given a certain MP3 bitrate?), however, other than that, I'm not sure I'd give them much besides that. The recording features are a big one for me.

 

[dark10x]

Is that it then? The recording features?

I honestly can't think of any real flaws with HD players, outside of potential durability issues. They are easy to use and can hold tons of music.

MD is nice, but it seems to have other purposes. What other major benefits do MD players have over HD players? Recording is worthless to me, but obviously important to others...but what else?

 

[Winged Creature]

the iriver has recording capabilities, but the non-replaceable battery really gets to me, so im probably gonna go Hi-MD

 

[SteveMeister]

Is that it then? The recording features?

I honestly can't think of any real flaws with HD players, outside of potential durability issues. They are easy to use and can hold tons of music.

MD is nice, but it seems to have other purposes. What other major benefits do MD players have over HD players? Recording is worthless to me, but obviously important to others...but what else?

It's not like the iPod is INCAPABLE of recording, it just doesn't include a microphone.

And if the students are getting their iPods for free, $40 isn't much to drop on one to record lectures (at least the ones they don't download from the Duke iTunes website).

 

[wandering goat]

According to this Sony site , Atrac3Plus at 64 kbps (Hi-LP) is comparable to 128 kbps Mp3. And yeah, I forgot to mention the recording capabilities, although I believe there are some HD players that offer this as well (the iRiver for one, if I recall correctly). As for actual hours, doing the math and taking into account the "real" storage space, it should come to be 339 hours and 5 minutes at a comparable 128 kbps, if I'm not mistaken. It'll be a bit less than that obviously due to software drivers and such.

 

[SteveMeister]

the iriver has recording capabilities, but the non-replaceable battery really gets to me, so im probably gonna go Hi-MD

iPod's batteries ARE replaceable.

 

[dark10x]

Apple has an official battery replacement program for $99.

That's pretty steep for battery replacement...

 

[Teknopathetic]

"What other major benefits do MD players have over HD players?"

I think a big thing besides the battery life would be the fact that HD based players are still hard drives which can fail. the Hi-MD players are still cheaper (sans the OMFG TOP OF THE LINE model, which I won't buy for the same reason I won't buy an iPod). Smaller due to the fact that it's not housing a hard drive. And recording's pretty versatile. Whether you're recording a teacher's lecture (as Apple's planning with this campus stuff), recording a bootleg, spying on the government, etc. We're talking more than a really basic built-in mic to claim you've got recording capabilities, we're talking able to use high quality, etc. mics (if that's your bag of course).

Edit: Ahh, sony's changed up a little since their Hi-MD announcement.

 

[dark10x]

How much will a nice Hi-MD retail for?

 

[SteveMeister]

That's pretty steep for battery replacement...

Jesus christ, read the rest of the FAQ! Chances are your battery will FAR outlast the warranty, so WHO CARES if replacing the battery voids it?

And besides -- Apple's standard 1 year warranty INCLUDES REPLACING THE BATTERY.

And if you buy Applecare, that's extended to 2 years.