I ch-ch-choose you, iTunes U!
I’m probably COMPLETELY behind the times here, but since I just recently bought my first mp3 player (well, technically it’s my second - the first ended up being so buggy and incompatible with my computer that I was never able to use it), the world of podcasts and the iTunes store wasn’t really anything I paid much attention to until now. But now that I have my adorable little hot pink Creative Zen Stone, I’ve been seeing what sort of downloadable content is out there to help keep me entertained while I’m on the treadmill - I’m extremely ADD, and sometimes music just doesn’t cut it & I need more distraction to keep from getting bored mid-workout.
My favorite discovery is iTunes U, which allows you to download podcasts of college courses & lectures completely free of charge. And the schools involved are some heavy hitters - MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley are just a few of the universities posting their courses for public consumption.
I’m kind of an sucker for astronomy & classical history, so I’ve been really enjoying being able to download & experience lectures on the subjects from some of the best minds in those fields. I’m currently taking a break from school because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life & felt that I was wasting money with my “Undecided” sophomore status, so being able to listen to these courses for free is really helping me figure out what exactly I should go back to school for - without all the expense & commitment of bouncing around from major to major. So if anyone else is in the same sort of aimless education boat that I’m in - or if you just dig learning new things - definitely, definitely, definitely check out iTunes U!
