Get Herald RSSThe next Brown student you see walking down the street with those trendy white earphones might not just be grooving to the latest Kelly Clarkson track - he might be doing his homework. This semester, Apple's 20-gigabyte iPods will be an important part of two classes taught by Professor of Music Jeff Titon: MU 129: "American Roots Music" and MU 222: "Field Research in Ethnomusicology."
Funding for the iPods comes from a grant given to the Language Resource Center, which makes foreign media available to students. The LRC has 130 iPods for students, not all of which are being used. Computing and Information Services was responsible for acquiring the iPods and conducted all communications with Apple.
Though students are being given the iPods free of charge, certain restrictions do apply. Students can keep the iPods only for the semester and must return them on Dec. 20. If an iPod is damaged or lost, the incurred cost will be charged to a student's account.
However, no restrictions are placed on what students may put on the iPod. Sam Carmichael '07, who takes MU 129, plans to use his iPod to listen to his favorite music as well as music for class once he has reformatted it to work with his computer.
"I already have an iPod, but my music library takes up more than 20 gigabytes, so I'll put some of my music on the iPod I use for class as well," he said. The iPod he received for MU 129 is different from his own iPod in that it came preloaded with music for the class and has a color screen.
In MU 129, an undergraduate course, students will use the iPods to listen to music discussed in class. Previously, students used Brown Electronic Audio Reserve System to access music files. Students accessed Brown EARS either from their personal computers or from library computers. But using the iPods is more convenient because the version of RealPlayer used for Brown EARS is not always compatible with students' computers.
Katy Leonard GS, who takes both MU 129 and MU 222, said the iPods are much more convenient. "I don't have to be in front of a computer to listen to the music," she said.
Her iPod will also play an important role in MU 222. In the graduate-level course, students will work with a local music community to make a podcast - online broadcasts compatible with iPods and the iTunes software. Although Titon and his class have not yet picked a community to work with, they hope to help a community whose music is not available on the Internet or radio. Titon named the Cambodian community in Providence as an example.
"If you make a (podcast), then anyone can listen to this music whenever or wherever, that they couldn't have had such easy access to before," Titon said. "This class is in a sense a community service project, because the podcast will be a way of empowering local musical culture."
iPods are used at other universities in different ways. Last year, Duke University gave every member of its freshman class a 20 GB iPod to encourage student creativity.
After a year, the initiative has met with mixed reviews, according to the New York Times. Some faculty felt that the iPods were being used more for personal entertainment than academic enrichment, while other faculty felt their students were more engaged in classes that used the iPods. Students appreciated the entertainment value of the iPods but felt they were not used to their full academic potential, the Times reported.
At Brown, however, reaction to the use of iPods in MU 129 and MU 222 has been positive so far.
"I think it's a great program, and that more classes should use them," Carmichael said.
