Duke University, which gave away a free iPod to each of its incoming students in the class of 2008, has decided to scale back the giveaway program. For the class of 2009, only students in classes that put iPods to "substantial use" will receive the free music player, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Professors who want their students to have access to an iPod for their courses will be able to provide iPods for their students. In order to do so, professors must submit brief proposals to the Duke technology office by the end of next month, according to The Chronicle.

The University is expected to purchase several hundred iPods for the class of 2009, which will cost substantially less than the half-million dollars Duke spent on the program last year. Nonetheless, Lynne O'Brien, director of the Center for Information Technology at Duke's Perkins Library, said that the iPod program was cut for "curricular reasons, not financial ones," according to The Chronicle. "We heard faculty say there are a lot of things that the iPod did well, but they had other interests that the iPod didn't fill," O'Brien told The Chronicle.

Duke administrators plan to spend some of the money originally intended for iPods on other classroom technologies, such as digital video players, tablet computers and social-networking Web sites, according to The Chronicle. "I don't believe we ever thought that all courses would find a use for iPods," O'Brien told The Chronicle. "Technology has evolved during the year, and professors' interest in technology has evolved."

Duke Provost Peter Lange wrote a memo to the Duke faculty explaining the decision reached from a review of the program. "[T]he review identified other technology uses beyond those enabled by the iPods that might be valuable to support," Lange wrote in the memo, according to The Chronicle.

This spring there are 16 Duke courses that use iPods. Less than 40 percent of the freshman class have enrolled in those classes. The university's review of the program, which will be finished in June, has concluded that "continuation of iPod support is essential" for several, but not all, classes, according to The Chronicle.

O'Brien expressed confidence that Duke students would not use iPod giveaways as a criterion in their course selection next year. "Given the high caliber of education at Duke I think most students will choose their classes for more serious reasons than that," she told The Chronicle.