By Marshall Swanson

Apple’s iPod has redefined the way people listen to music. Now it promises to redefine the way people work in photography.

And students in the new visual communications major at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications will be among the first to learn of its photographic capabilities, thanks to a $3,000 bequest from the late Jack McGrail, a photojournalism professor who taught at the school from 1951 to 1977.

“Jack McGrail said he wanted the money to be used to benefit students’ education, and he mentioned photography in particular,” said Vance L. Kornegay, an associate professor of journalism, who noted that $2,000 of the bequest was used to make an initial purchase of four photo iPods.

The journalism school anticipates using the remainder of the gift to fund an award recognizing outstanding student work.

In just a few years on the market, Music iPods have radically changed the way music is listened to, enabling individuals to create their own play lists of more than 5,000 selections and listen to them in whatever order they want, wherever they want.

Photo iPods, which were introduced this past December, are portable photo storage and play units for very high memory digital video and digital photography files contained on tiny 40 gigabyte hard drives. The iPods allow users to instantly look at thousands of images without requiring a desktop or laptop computer.

The school’s new photo iPods are about the size of a pack of cigarettes and have been inscribed with McGrail’s name and his years of service with the University. They are being used in the school’s advanced visual communication class to store moving video, and in its advanced photography class to store still images that can be shown on a large projection device.

Kornegay figures the students will come up with some other innovative ways to use the iPods after they have had a chance to work with them this semester.

“I think it’s cool the way an old-time photo journalism professor has linked to a new generation of journalism students through this gift,” Kornegay said, noting the happy coincidence of the bequest arriving just as the school’s new visual communications major was getting started this year.