If you thought the iTunes Music Store was all about getting the latest music and TV shows, you are in for a surprise. Stanford is collaborating with Apple to bring the world at large "Stanford on iTunes". You don't have to pay the $31,200 tuition, live on campus or even be a student to access the lectures, speeches, debates, and other university content. The nearly 500 tracks that are available on "Stanford on iTunes" can be freely accessed by anyone who is willing to spend the time to download them.

Quite a number of universities are now using iTunes to distribute content to their students, including Duke University, Drexel University's School of Education and the University of Michigan School of Dentistry; however, Stanford is the first to make the content available to everyone.

"One of Stanford's primary missions is to educate the public," says Scott Stocker, director of Web communications. Allowing the public to access the content "just felt like the right thing to do," says Cindy Pearson, director of alumni programs.

Stanford has plans to enlarge the content available. One example would be recording of the University's sports events. The Stanford versus Berkeley football game, which took place in November, and is known on the campus as "The Big Game," has already been videotaped and mailed to alumni clubs overseas. However, the plan is to use the video capabilities of iTunes to let people watch the game without having to wait for it to arrive in the mail. Another thing that may be done in the near future is to have walking tours of the campus. This would allow anyone to "tour" the campus from the comfort of his or her own home. A visitor to the campus could also bring their iPod, or borrow one from the school, and set out on a guided audio tour.

Find out more here.