Two Cool Things
Stanford iTunes — I think I may have died and gone to heaven. I am currently downloading a track containing a lecture entitled, “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.” Science, art, politics, it’s all there.
Also, I don’t understand nano-technology at all. But woah! Now I want to.
ETA: I am honor-bound to add that the Stanford iTunes interface locks out non-OS X or Windows users (iTunes won’t run on Linux), and that the iPod is the only mobile music player that is compatible with the AAAC files that iTunes uses. Ross thinks this stinks, and after a (very early morning) discussion about it, I kind of do too, even though I am still in my own private heaven over it. At first I thought Stanford wanted to make their media visible to more people, but since you have to go to and click through the Stanford website first in order to access the files, that’s not really the case. Also, Ross thinks that it’s the Stanford server that pays for the bandwidth use of all the downloads, so I guess they’re not using iTunes because they couldn’t afford to host the files. So really it would have been just as good — and fairer to a lot more people — to build a section on the university website where you could download mp3s.
Hmmm. I wonder why they did it?
October 27th, 2005 at 11:01 am
I don’t get it.
But I love the new face of the blog! The blue is much cooler and more welcoming than the red, if I do say so myself. And I’m digging the picture at the top. I’ll have to go to some local Chinese joints to get my fix of the bad grammar on the chopsticks wrapper.
But hey, what does ETA stand for? I’ve seen it everywhere (mostly on Television Without Pity stuff), and it’s high time someone told me what it stands for, since I clearly can’t figure it out for myself…
October 27th, 2005 at 11:34 am
ETA = Edited to add, and I would have just written “Edited to add,” except that I wanted to use the word “add” again in the following sentence, and I hate word-repetition.
Me=dork.
P.S. Basically, Stanford is making lectures and other media freely available, but if you can’t run iTunes on your computer, you can’t access the files. And even if you have iTunes, you can’t listen on the go unless you own an iPod. So they’re tying their (wonderful) educational content to a specific piece of software and a specific product. Which is kind of stinky.
October 27th, 2005 at 1:29 pm
I think they are trying to say something — if you look closely, you’ll see a pattern.
Let’s investigate!
goddessparkle has an iPod.
Sarah has an iPod.
Sus does not have an iPod.
Now what kind of people does Stanford allow to access their lectures and information? Cool people! Technologically advanced people with style!
Poor Sus! She’ll just have to make do with her notes (archaic pen and paper things) from antiquated, backwards Dartmouth.
October 27th, 2005 at 1:55 pm
I appreciate your sentiment, but actually Darmouth is totally a pioneer in technological advancement. Sus, tell her about Blitzmail! (I used to live with a Dartmouth grad, so I know the secrets of the Blitz.)
October 27th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
Blitzmail! I can’t believe you know about blitzmail!
So seeee, Sarah?? We invented a new word that can be used as a noun (”I’ll check my blitzmail in my dorm room”), a verb (I’ll blitz you about when we can meet”), and an adjective (”I got blitzed last night at Alpha Chi” — oh, wait, we didn’t really invent that usage).
And by the way, Mike has an iPod. And Colorado is a joint property state, so as of October 7, 2006 (and maybe even now, since we’re pretty much common-law), that iPod is half mine! So there!
And thanks, Meera, for giving me the scoop on ETA. It was driving me crazy! And I hate word-rep, too, so I love that you used the fancy abbreviation.
October 27th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
Please excuse the backwards quotation marks and the missing ones. Unlike Meera, I am not allowed to do any kind of ETAing. Bummer.
October 28th, 2005 at 1:21 am
M, I think your so-called “appreciation” of my sentiment is naught but an attempt at bland placation. And don’t you know I hate being placated? It is on my Top Ten Worst Things Evor!
FINE! As of Oct 7th, 2006, I’ll grant Susan Coolness by Association because of Mike’s ‘Pod — but not one minute before.
BTW, “ETA” can also mean Estimated Time of Arrival. Just an FYI. CUL8R!
I need to go to bed.
October 28th, 2005 at 2:42 am
It’s true that you have to have an iPod to access the Stanford material, but Apple is the only company that’s made downloading and listening to audio absolutely seemless, so I don’t mind. It rewards good design and encourages other companies to pay more attention to their users and to aesthetics.
October 28th, 2005 at 8:53 am
Contrarah-poo — we all need a little prickle from our Top Ten Worst Things Evor now and again, so we know we’re alive! P.S. ur comment made me LOL, thx.
Readermine — I see what you’re saying, but I don’t know if it’s the place of an institution of learning to reward good design in a way that shuts out people who can’t afford to purchase that design, or who simply want to make other choices. (I do have to say that I didn’t mind either, until my rabidly pro-open-source-software husband ranted for a good 15 minutes. ;-))