By Sara Eisenhauer
Cardinal Staff
In today’s society, music exists nearly everywhere because of free downloading, including college campuses. However, for college students, attaining music in this fast-paced digital world is becoming more difficult because of recent crackdowns by the government against downloading.
Ruckus, which the Saint Mary’s IT Department and Helpdesk began promoting last year, has now introduced the Facebook application “My Ruckus Music” to give students more access to free, licensed, virus-free music tracks, TV shows, movies, and music videos.
Read more... Ruckus, a social network that aims to build community across campuses, allows students to share musical and personal interests in a legal way.
Sophomore Ashley Loos feels safe using the features of Ruckus. “I don’t like downloading illegally for moral reasons,” Loos said. “I don’t want to have to deal with the ramifications if I’m caught.” Ruckus hopes to appeal to college students, who have much to lose if caught for illegal downloading, by providing free media easily. Students can log-on to Ruckus.com and sign-up with a school email address. Instantly, students can download the Ruckus player, as well the new Facebook application, and listen to free music.
Amanda Frost, the IT Department Technician who handles Recording Industry Association of America complaints about illegal downloading, doesn’t feel Ruckus will eliminate the downloading issues on campus, especially with freshmen who don’t always know it’s illegal. “After all the warnings over the years, I would think it would get better, but it’s not,” Frost said.
Though students can download and listen to music for free, they are not entitled ownership of the tracks and, therefore, cannot burn the music to CDs or convert it to other programs such as iTunes. According to Frost, the music is compatible with Windows Media Player and just about any mp3 player other than the iPod. Each music track can be purchased for $0.99 to use with Apple products. The Ruckus system also includes many Internet pop-ups because it is entirely advertising supported.
Due to these downfalls, Frost doesn’t have much hope for the success of Ruckus at Saint Mary’s. “Right now, it’s just an option so students have a way to access new music without getting in trouble,” Frost said. “I do hope for the future that the school can get a better kind of music and film program that is safe and legal.”
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