With funding issues shutting down many online music services, the AU administration has had no luck in finding a provider that could replace Napster as students' source of free music.
Ruckus Network closed down on Feb. 6, ending its service that provided free and legal music to students at more than 200 colleges, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Many similar networks have also shut down over the past few years, including Cdigix in 2007, the Chronicle reported.
Napster ended its contracts with all universities, including AU, at the beginning of this academic year, The Eagle previously reported.
Amanda Bevilacqua, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, said she was disappointed to see Napster go.
"I loved it," she said. "I used it all the time."
AU assembled a committee to search for a new provider immediately after Napster announced the cancellation of its campus music service, according to Housing and Dining Programs Director Chris Moody. The committee looked into sources such as Rhapsody, Ruckus Network and iTunes, but none of them were interested in entering into a contract with AU.
"We actually did a pretty exhaustive search," he said.
A provision in the Higher Education Act renewed by Congress last year now mandates that colleges must provide students with an alternative to illegal file sharing, according to the Chronicle.
AU has not changed its policies with regard to this provision because the Department of Education has not yet come out with specific guidelines as to what universities must do to comply. The AU network firewall, which protects against hackers and viruses, might be enough to satisfy the Higher Education Act's requirements, Moody said.
Obligating colleges to provide alternative sources of online music could prove to be a problem, according to Kenneth Green, director of Campus Computing. With so many online music services shutting down, colleges no longer know where to send students for free, legal music, he said.
"There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty," Green said.
Campus Computing runs a continuing study of IT in higher education and has researched issues regarding peer-to-peer file sharing for several years, he said.
The company's research has shown that while most universities have made active efforts to combat illegal downloading, these efforts can cost a school as much as $500,000, Green said.
The most effective measure against illegal downloading on college campuses would be to create tutorials that students must complete before they can access the university's server, Green said. Teaching students user rights and responsibilities and requiring a digital signature from the student make it impossible for students to deny knowledge of the piracy laws they are breaking, he said.
Despite the end of Napster on campus, no students have gotten in legal trouble for online piracy since AU signed up with the provider in the fall of 2006, according to Moody. The spread of iTunes and the iPhone has changed the face of the music industry and made it unnecessary to pirate music, he said.
Tracy Kania, a junior in the School of Communication said she stopped using Napster in favor of iTunes while Napster was still its offering free music.
"I liked [Napster] ... I could get more music because I didn't have to pay for it," she said. "But it also sucked because I couldn't put it on my iPod, I couldn't bring it off my computer."
AU is currently working with iTunes to stream lectures online, which could open the doors for a partnership that offers music to students, Moody said.
"Most students are actually watching iTunes to figure out what they are going to do," he said.
Bevilacqua said she hopes AU can find another free music provider to replace Napster.
"I think that would be great," she said. "If you really want to combat this issue then you should probably give us something to do, to use."
You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.
