The war on piracy takes a new turn… by giving away free music to students.
Daily Tech:
Ruckus Network, Inc., the legal music downloading service, has announced its decision to make its service free for all college students nationwide. The service is now advertising supported which will allow students to receive the service free with a .edu e-mail address. Several large music labels and independent companies have agreed to release song titles to Ruckus for a discounted price.
CNET reported that Ruckus attempted to offer the service to schools at a small fee for students to receive free music downloads in order to reduce illegal music downloads. The service was originally offered to around 20 schools with contractual agreements.
The switch to advertising-supported music downloads sprouted from the need for a free way for students to get music without the artists losing money. With advertising support, the record labels will get paid as well as the artists. In addition, radio air time for songs pay out only to music publishers - with advertisements, artists and labels will receive some of the revenue.
The new service does not require the university to participate but rather allows students to independently register. Since many professors and alumni still use their .edu e-mail addresses, the Ruckus registration site asks whether you are a student, staff members, or alumni. Alumni and university staff have to pay a small fee of $8.99 month for the service.
The new service will use Windows Media technology, which allows songs to be played on a user’s computer. In order to transfer the songs to a portable music player, users must buy the rights to transfer for $4.99 a month.
The downside is that the songs will not play on Microsoft’s Zune, Apple’s iPod, or any Mac computers. This has left some campuses in an uproar, claiming discrimination against Apple users.
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