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iPod Evolving Beyond Music
A recently announced deal between Apple and Duke University to give the school's 1,650 incoming freshmen an iPod aims to test the trendy techno-gadget's ability to evolve into something more than a digital music player.
...The pods come loaded with academic goodies like audio campus tours and can be used to help students access class schedules, course materials and recorded lectures.
...Professors will have music students download performance pieces from a Duke version of the iTunes site, while foreign language instructors will provide students with audio clips of native speakers with different dialects. Even science classes will use the device with a special microphone to have students record field interviews.
Some of the add-ons include pPod, a program by a British company that gives iPod users a tongue-in-cheek guide to London's public bathrooms set to tunes like Händel's "Water Music"; Podtender, which includes 900 mixed drink recipes; PodQuest, which enables users to download driving directions from services like MapQuest to their iPod and piPod, which gives New York City iPod aficionados a guide to Big Apple pizzerias