Duke and iPod reloaded
p2pnet.net News:- Hooray for Apple.
Its iPod mp3 player is apparently going flat out at $250 in the US, $350 in Canada and ¥28,140 in Japan.
It kind of reminds you of when the world freaked out over Beanie Babies. They were no different from other stuffies but brilliant marketing and the media lemmings made Tye very rich.
It’s a frightening example of just how powerful the Media Word is.
Word.
It’s how the entertainment industry pulls the kind of rank bull that it does and gets away with it.
Like INDUCE. Like the plastic music sites supplied and supported by Big Music. Like the fact Napster II is still around. (Well, almost ; ) Like the fact the entertainment industry has penetrated the US educational system and turned major universities into both industry cops and PR and marketing outlets.
‘We saw the press …’
But back to Apple.
I did an op-ed on the Duke / iPod ‘initiative which drew a lot of comments, a significant number of which were probably from the same person(s) who decided witless spamming might be fun. I also had several really nasty re-emails saying (once the obscenities were out of the way) that Apple is All and Only.
So just to be 100% clear:
If Duke (and/or any other university) really needs mp3 players as teaching aids, there are plenty of better ways to get them. Spending $500,000 on Apple is ridiculous.
Or maybe Duke is a victim of the Penn Effect.
Napster II, the re-assembled Zombie-like corpse of the original Napster, has been shoe-horned into various universities by the RIAA. Among them is Wright State. And how did the school officials decide this was a good idea?
“We saw the press with Penn State and Rochester,” Paul Hernandez, director of computing and telecommunications, told Ashlee Vance.
Oh. OK.
Back to the world where Apple was able to convince Duke that iPod mp3 players are important educational devices, instead of taking that dubious route, Duke could perhaps have assigned its Pratt electrical and computer engineering unit a development project, namely:
“Design and build a small, light record-and-playback unit that’ll interface with the school network so students can download faculty-provided course content, ‘including language lessons, music, recorded lectures, and audio books’. Then sell, or preferably give, the specs to other schools so they can make improvements, such as adding WiFi.”
And while that was going on, Fuqua business school students could have been contacting the various mp3 player manufacturers to see what kind of deals they could cook up: maybe Duke could have ‘branded’ the player.
In other words, if Duke really needed an iPod-type product, which I strongly doubt, there are a lot of ways it could have acquired one creatively, perhaps turning the end results into a profit instead of a loss.
In the meanwhile, to all those Mac fans out there, as I said in a comment to one of the posts:
“I have to give it to Apple – it’s been able to create a virtual religion ; )
“One of the posters says my clearly marked ‘opinion’ piece was vitriolic. Maybe. But it’s what I think and as a father, I’m seriously concerned that universities – supposedly institutions of higher learning – and other kinds of schools are being turned into sales units for various entertainment industry products – and with absolutely no reference to students or parents.
“Do I hate the Apple Mac? Nope. It’s just a computer. Do I hate iPod? Nope. It’s just an mp3 player. But I DO hate the way this wholly sales and marketing effort is being presented as ‘an initiative to encourage creative uses of technology in education and campus life’.
“What a load of old bollocks.”
Cheers!
Jon Newton – p2pnet
July 25th, 2004 at 8:35 am
It seems that the education system these days is driven more by financial realities than ideals. Schools have always needed money, but the corporate world is finding new and insidious ways to exploit that need.
After enrolling at a university, I soon got hit by a sudden wave of junk mail – it turned out that the college was selling students’ personal information UNLESS they specifically opted out by filling out all the necessary forms, something that was never mentioned anywhere.
Commercialism and targeted advertising has managed to infect nearly every aspect of our daily lives – we are bombarded cradle to grave. No one is spared, even children, who make an easy target for modern-day snake-oil salesman pushing everything from junk food to expensive toys. Just like spyware on our computers, corporate interests will always manage to sneak unnoticed into places where they do not belong – and only eternal vigilance will hold them at bay. This Ipod promotion may just be the tip of the iceberg – with more surprises to follow.
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/ads.in.schools.html
July 25th, 2004 at 5:24 pm
morons like you will not understand how to use new technology for furthering education. I strongly suggest that you get a few lessons in “Innovative use of Tech in education” at Duke univ, and avail yourself the free iPod service that they have to offer.
July 25th, 2004 at 6:18 pm
Everything about the Entertainment Industry’s approach to schools is frightening, and I include Apple and similar operations as parts of that industry. However, it doesn’t seem that anyone with any authority is particularly alarmed and it also seems that political representatives who might be ‘persuaded’ to act on it are already in the pockets of the industry.
It isn’t Big Brother we have to worry about.
July 26th, 2004 at 2:07 am
Yeesh, you gotta relax man. Why even spend your time writing about something you clearly know nothing about? From my limited understanding from the first article I read on the subject (CNET I think):
1. The Duke project is funded from capital earmarked only for new technology projects.
2. This is only a trial project.
3. They are most definitely not paying retail for the iPod’s
4. The iPod was the only player that met all criteria (i.e.- able to read audible files, notes reader, contacts list, calendar w/syncing etc.)
5. The iPod’s are equipped with audio recording for lectures and such.
The prof’s are supposed to put some Audible course content which can be downloaded to the iPod’s as well info on the school in text format. The iPod’s will be equipp
I do believe if was some other players being supplied to Duke, you wouldn’t have went on the strange rant in your previous piece. You clearly, no matter what you say, dislike Apple – you can’t fool anyone on that – just read what you wrote yourself sometime.
I believe you even called iPod’s expensive, well no, not anymore, the 4G’s are actually on the low side price wise, there are many more expensive players out there like Sony and iRiver, even Creative players are about the same price and do much less – keep up man!
As a Father, you should be proud that your child could even go to Duke, I don’t think parents should be too concerned about how Universities spend their tuition money – after all they are rarely, if ever at all, in any position of understanding and knowledge to suggest how it should be done – in other words keep your pie eatin’ hole shut dumbass! It’s just a friggin’ MP3 player being tried out at a school!
July 26th, 2004 at 12:15 pm
The above writer seems to be completely unaware of the routine tactics used in the corporate world. By getting their foot in the door at Duke, Apple can now use that loss-leader contract as a talking-point in their pursuit of more profitable ventures at other universities. You can bet that all the fine print of the Duke-Apple deal will be confidential – and each additional college snagged will end up paying an increasingly higher price. Then once the bandwagon effect takes over, Apple’s below-cost deal with Duke will be small potatoes.
Now I say below-cost, because I think that there must have been something more to the deal than their public statement would have us believe. Otherwise, paying $278 per iPod is hardly dirt-cheap. Well, I’d like to think that Duke got something more out of it for the half-million dollars they paid – instead of just being taken to the cleaners.
If Apple were to create a truly suitable device for college lecture use – perhaps a super-charged audio/video recorder complete with speed controls, speech-to-text and spoken-word-search capability – I would certainly be all for it. But the problem is that the iPod was never even designed as a recording device – yet Apple is presenting it as such. Thus the magic of salesmanship; turning lead into gold.
But until the day comes when Apple or anyone else produces a device that can function as a robotic note-taker, then simply having an old tape recorder, a notebook, and a pencil might be a lot more suitable for a student’s academic needs than an iPod, not to mention a whole lot cheaper. … or then maybe I’m just jealous because my college never even handed out pencils.
July 26th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I have no idea why a simple laptop would not suffice, but….
Why am I branded as a zealot for liking Apple products because they JUST Frelling WORK, but one who spends countless hours trying to make Microsoft crap work is considered normal. I see my coworkers who buy into everything Micro$oft reinstall their OS time and time again, fight virii, spyware, have registry problems, DLL hell, etc. and THEN accuse me of making a bad choice. Fuck you and all of your ilk who would rather live in DLL hell than buy anything Apple. Fuck you and yours who would question my choice, the choice of ease of use over being a brain dead sheep (no offense to sheep intended).
July 26th, 2004 at 3:03 pm
Read the item again.
I’m only too well aware of Apple’s ‘routine’ tactics: that’s the point. Are schools places to learn or marketing-cum-sales resources for the corporate community?
And if a device such as an iPod is really needed, there are better ways to get / develop it.
July 26th, 2004 at 5:16 pm
When I stated (2 posts up the chain) that “The above writer seems to be completely unaware of the routine tactics …” I was referring to “Anonymous Coward” in the post directly above me who seems to be fully supportive of the Duke/Apple partnership. Sorry for the confusion. (Jon, you’re all too aware of what goes on behind the scenes!)
I guess I’m a bit surprised that some people – or should I say zealots – just don’t seem to understand the real implications of the deal, and will staunchly defend Duke’s ipod decision. To my knowledge, this is the first time a university has ever forcefully pushed a proprietary product on students, yet some people seem unconcerned. And what about all the students who already have the latest iPod? Are they going to get a reduction of their student fees – or have a second iPod forced on them? Most likely the latter – since the devices have already been purchased. Let’s just hope that Duke doesn’t require students to buy iBooks next year.
July 27th, 2004 at 10:05 am
Geez Lady, you got some mouth on you! Take a Valium or something! If you don’t like Windows stuff, just frelling well say so, instead of urinating all over the ‘less fortunate’ types who are basically too willing to fall for MS crud! I don’t use Windows either, but I really hate the costs associated with all that APPLE hardware that just doesn’t interface with ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!!!!!! If you want to support something useful and better than Windows, use Linux. Your liberal use of the ‘F’ word and references to ‘brain dead sheep’ bring to mind the zealotry of a Fundamentalist preacher, not someone trying to make a point.
July 28th, 2004 at 11:28 am
“Fuck you and yours who would question my choice”
Gawd, how terrible. That someone would question YOUR choice. The nerve of some people… What is that covering your eyes? Brain dead sheep’s wool? How odd.
Friggin’ apple zealots.
July 28th, 2004 at 11:51 am
Jeez, say a few words critical of a fairly shady looking business deal between a college and a computer company and the Mac heads come out of the wood work swinging! I don’t recall either article slamming Apple products. Apple prices yes, Apple products and their functions, no. Perhaps the opinion of the author questioned the suitability of the iPod as an “educational device”, but I don’t recall any pot shots being taken at OSX or G4s. Get a grip people (or should I say “Apple zealots” ;-D ). If Microsoft was trying to do a deal like this with a university and they even bothered to comment I wonder what those comments would be?
July 29th, 2004 at 1:15 am
The iPod is successful because it is a very good product!
It hit the correct mix between being both small enough (physically) and large enough (storage), cool enough and easy enough and ultimately inexpensive enough to be the number one mp3 player on the market. I know you think that this is all marketing, but having used a number of MP3 players I understand why the iPod is selling well and it is not just marketing.
So if you accept that the iPod is a “best of breed product” in this area, what is wrong with a school purchasing them if they fill a need? (in this case it is both a perk to encourage enrolment as well as a potential learning tool).
You would not recomend that schools create their own firewall instead of using cisco or some other brand, would you?
August 31st, 2005 at 12:27 pm
It’s actually very interesting that someone mentioned mircrosoft (as in, what would the reaction be to the same situation with microsoft in place of the apple corporation). Microsoft actually donated a substantial amount of computer equipment to developing nations, apparantly to help bridge the digital divide. I believe this situation really encapsulates much of the debate concerning the iPods: Are we helping these countries ‘prosper’ in our global economy, or are we just making them reliant on technologies which may irreversably alter the way their society functions, and perhaps for the worse.
The iPod situation is similar, but more specific. Are such tools NEEDED or is this a manufactured need. Anyone whose done introductory marketing might be asking themselves this question, and either cynically questioning the motivation of the parties involved or congradulating Apple on the most beautiful marketing campaign ever constructed. Speculation aside, there are some very real issues that need to be examined:
* In a recent press-club address by the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC, a government funded media outlet), it was stated that the corporation was commited to expanding their broadcasting into areas where the public were going (of their own volition) for news and information. It is interesting that a university, rather than broadcasting its lectures, and lodging its other course material in a variety of places (internet, intranets, within libraries and faculties) which are already available to its students has instead decided to (basically) force a particular mode of delivery.
Why not make material available so that it can be handled by a variety of mp3 players and personal computers? (or maybe it is, but this is ignored). There was a comment concerning the ill-suitablity of particular players for handling all types of material, but surely this applies only to a limited number of faculties. I would be very surprised if the vast majority of students could not cope quite adequately with a cheap low capacity mp3 player.
Furthermore, if they are so vital to particular courses, why not make them available for hire through the library or faculty? It seems likely that personal use rather than educational use will dominate if they are actual property of the students.
* There is a second issue. When a technology becomes widly utilized, material increasingly becomes available exclusively through that medium. As a student I’ve noticed that most journal articles in the behavioural sciences are available online. Many are available ONLY online. Much lecture material is available ONLY online. Exam timetables and class timetabling is available ONLY online. This is fine for myself, as I have broadband net. My boyfriend, however, was without internet until the final year or so of his course. For him, the digital divide was a reality with continually reasserted itself and the effort required for him to merely keep up with course work was compounded beyond that experienced by that of his ‘connected’ classmates.
With technology comes a particular expectation that the standard of coursework will reflect the students increased production capabilites. Most of us will remember the proliferation of the home computer and the effect this had on our work and school expectancies. Certainly those without access to this technology were at a severe disadvantage. I understand that the free iPod proposal is designed to rectify this, however, one should keep in mind that if sucessful, more and more universities may decide to utilize this technology, perhaps without subsidizing the technology’s cost.
* Lastly, I think the real benefits of this, and other technologies should be carefully assessed. Is increasing our production abilities (even academically) really such a great thing? Afterall, meaningful learning requires consolodation, not the mass consumption of information. Quality over quantity. If we indefinately increase expectations and the flow of information, I fear eventually our poor minds will become overwhelmed. I know this sounds a little over-the-top, but it really needs to be looked at…it’s already a reality for many students.
Hopefully these are concerns that technology users of all corporate persuasions will consider.
-ELB
March 9th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
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