At one time during the Fall of 1999, there were at least 15 online notes companies distributing unauthorized lecture notes. Fortunately, since the Fall of 2000, most all have disappeared! See: the Graveyard of dead notes businesses... By July 2007, some universities were again plagued by such enterprises, but not for long.
NOTES BUSINESSES
Over the past five or six years, since the implosion of the e-commerce bubble, not all things were quiet on the notes companies front... On a local level, notes companies that sell and buy unauthorized lecture notes have continued to exist. They are much harder to police, of course, then the national companies, especially when they are not online.
Something of a resurgence of internet-based companies, however, seems to have taken place in more recent years. perhaps instigated by the boom of the latest communications technologies (cell phones, ipods, etc.), online notes companies have suddenly again taken ground at several universities. This brief review is surely incomplete, but it may give some indication that there is still an issue with us.
Only UC-Berkeley, to my knowledge, oversees an authorized notes service, Black Lightning Lecture Notes. Other universities have such services for disabled students, which is to be applauded of course.
Yet, other notes companies are not authorized. In 2003, Boston University raised concerns about Beantown Notes. I have no news on the company since then, so I assume it is no longer in existence. StudentNotes is active online, at least since 2004, at Georigia, Georgia State, and Florida State. Notes are bought and sold. FlashNotes was online in 2004 at Kent State University, but is no longer accessible at the present. At the University of South Carolina, it was reported in 2006, that uflipit.com would allow students to buy and sell stuff, including lecture notes, but the site is no longer online. In the same year, ther were concerns about uscoursenotes.com at the University of Southern California, but that site too is not active. BatNotes.com is still on the internet, though it offers notes for only a few (old) courses.
Smokin Notes provides notes at the University of Florida. At the same university is also Einstein's Notes, a primarily local notes company. First Class Notes operates at Rutgers University and San Diego State University. The company has been under some scrutiny since at least 2006, especially at Rugers. That year, also, Notes Swap was discussed at Louisiana State University, and does not seem to be active anymore, though the site promises notes for various universities. At Texas Tech University, it was reported early 2007 that ttuwiki.com would go online to distribute notes, but the site appears inactive. NoteCentric promises to be a notes-sharing site modeled after facebook, but it appears less than successful. Similar obscruity exists surrounding mynoteit.com and lifehacker.com. At Indiana University, iunotes.com promises its clients the Hoosier way to earn an A. A Louisiana-based company, University Notes, is online to offer notes at various universities. In the Spring of 2007, there was discussion on classdrop.com at yale University .
Other local companies that are or have been around include: TakeNote (Cornell); Yournotes.com (Penn State); ClassNotes (Purdue); I-Notes and Notes-n-Quotes (University of Illinois); theNotebook (Michigan State); Grade-A-Notes (Ohio State and more); Class Notes (Colorado, Boulder), and many more...
THE GRAVEYARD OF THE NOTES MARKET!
VERSITY.COM
CURRENT STATUS: INOPERATIVE! This used to be the most aggressive notes companies! The business attracted $11.2 million in financing, but in April 2000, the company was bought up by CollegeClub.com! Then CollegeClub filed for bankruptcy (see the Education Facts page). Now Versity.com is no more! The old Versity address is linked to CollegeClub. Contact CollegeClub.com, 1010 Second Ave, Suite 700, San Diego, CA 92101, tel. (619) 237.7000, fax (619) 237.7001.
STUDY24-7.COM
This company posts unapproved lecture notes as one of many commercial ventures. This is also a very aggressive company, from which I received several harrassing communications! Contact the CEO @: brian@study24-7.com.
STUDYAID.COM
This is yet one more, small company that posts notes. Contact: email@studyaid.com.
LECTUREHALLS.COM
This is a company that is in the market of "professor-approved" notes. The sheer stupidity of this company is well reflected in its posting of a link to the "Free Education Now!" site!?! Contact: tel. (603) 806.7911, fax (603) 806.7911, Academos, LLC, 816 Auto Mall Road, #111, Bloomington, IN 47401, info@academos.com.
NOTESPLUS.COM
This company also tries to distribute lecture notes (after registration). Contact at: webmaster@notesplus.com.
NET NOTES MEDIA
Founded by two students, this site distributes notes for at least one university (maybe more). Contact: info@netnotesmedia.com.
STUDENTU.COM
STATUS: PENDING. This company is now called StudyFree.com. It used to be part of a network of interrelated websites to tap the student market, UZone.com, and had a subsite, NotesU.com. It is not clear what the company does right now... Contact: contact@studentu.com; StudyFree, LLC, 10375 Richmond Ave. Suite 800, Houston, TX 77042, (877) 407-8839, (713) 570-7440, fax (713) 570-7500.
WHATABOUTU.COM
CURRENT STATUS: NOT NOTES-PROVIDING!
This private business does currently not provide unauthorized lecture notes, although the company at one point "announced the acquisition of college lecture note leaders TakeNote[r] and TarHeel Notes," claiming that "the companies are planning to roll out their lecture notes service domestically and internationally via WhataboutU.com's network of global destination sites" (cited in the PrimeZone Media Network, March 1, 2000). At present, the company presents itself as a "technology and infrastructure company that services universities around the world" (see the WhataboutU.com site). Apparently, the company's announced "global revolution" includes a 'Lifestyles' products pages related to food, tarvel, and fashion! Contacts: Mathew Thomas, co-founder, mat@whataboutu.com, and Samir Seth, co-founder, seths@whataboutu.com. WhataboutU Corporate Headquarters, 315 West 36th St. Suite 504, New York, NY 10018, Office phone: (212) 279 0624, Fax: (212) 279 0644; info@whataboutu.com
4POINTZERO.COM
CURRENT STATUS: WEBSITE DOWN! This company used to charge a fee for the notes, to be sold and bought from student to student. Contact: Steve Montano, (518) 477-5168, steve@classbook.com.
EZCAMPUS.COM
CURRENT STATUS: WEBSITE DOWN! One more company that provides lecture notes. Contact: feedback@ezcampus.com.
GETHRUCOLLEGE.COM
CURRENT STATUS: WEBSITE DOWN! This company made things only worse by trying (unsuccessfully) to get professors to post notes in return for royalties. Posing as an alternative to notes companies, it was but a competitor! The website is down since the Fall of 2000. CEO's (old?) email: Runyan@gethrucollege.com.
COURSENOTES.COM
CURRENT STATUS: NOT NOTES_PROVIDING. Yet, CourseNotes.com offered some really frightening materials, such as the opportunity to offer a "money saving option" in posting course materials. Contact: alan_blake@coursepackets.com. The company's name has changed to ClassMap, no doubt to avoid continued association with note companies.
ALLSTUDENTS.COM
This company used to sell notes, but is no longer up and running. Contact: feedback@allstudents.com.
COURSE-NOTES.COM
This company tried to specialize in the notes-business for the the Ivy League universities, but is currently inoperative. Contact: webmaster@course-notes.com.
Also beware of...
Jenzabar.com...This company does not appear to sell notes, but is very scary nonetheless. Amongst other reasons because it collects sensitive information such as student grades on its site. Contact: jmalone@jenzabar.com. And look at Jenzabar.com.
Bigwords.com...Bigwords.com sells books. That would be OK were it not for the fact that is also intrusive by posting professors' names and their courses' titles, numbers, and final exam dates. Also, this company sends out many hassling emails! Teachers beware: as soon as you log in to your own course, a claim will be posted that you have approved of the site! Contact: professors@bigwords.com. Check out: bigwords.com.
LazyStudents.com...At present this site does not offer lecture notes, but the site mentions that "[f]uture plans for LazyStudents.com include free student e-mail, a virtual apartment guide and free lecture notes." Check out: LazyStudents.com.
USHOCK.COM
A company that promises to post class notes for courses at about ten universities. Contact: Matt Compton, (415) 647-4625, ext. 101, mcompton@ushock.com. Now offline...
Back to Free Education Now!
Bigwords.com...Bigwords.com sells books. That would be OK were it not for the fact that is also intrusive by posting professors' names and their courses' titles, numbers, and final exam dates. Also, this company sends out many hassling emails! Teachers beware: as soon as you log in to your own course, a claim will be posted that you have approved of the site! Contact: professors@bigwords.com. Check out: bigwords.com.
LazyStudents.com...At present this site does not offer lecture notes, but the site mentions that "[f]uture plans for LazyStudents.com include free student e-mail, a virtual apartment guide and free lecture notes." Check out: LazyStudents.com.
USHOCK.COM
A company that promises to post class notes for courses at about ten universities. Contact: Matt Compton, (415) 647-4625, ext. 101, mcompton@ushock.com. Now offline...
Education is everybody's concern, nobody's business!
