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Penn State Students to Get Free Music From Napster
Mr. Show writes "Napster and Penn State have unveiled a deal to give faculty and students free access to music beginning next spring. The deal would give students only limited access to downloads, so presumably most of the free music will come through the streaming service that would otherwise cost a monthly fee. Will this help curb piracy on college campuses?" It might, except for students that don't run Windows.
It's only illogical policies that make it appear not so. They are getting information in its natural state.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
Since the newest version of iTunes lets you share music across the network, a large number of students have simply opened up their lists for perusing and playing. (Downloading, as far as I know, is impossible.)
Because no one is downloading the files, so clearly is just benefitting from sampling the music (that is, some people will almost definitely purchase CDs when they find themselves deprived of permanent access to songs that they like. -Ideally. I realize I am a bit optimistic), I feel that this should be legal, even though I realize that it's probably not. However, I find it amusing that even though iTunes warns you that you should only share music with yourself -presumably when on some other computer on the network with iTunes- it allows multiple users to be logged in at the same time, and doesn't require that you set a password. So the system has essentially set itself up to be abused.
It wasn't me, it was the one-armed
From those, according to their ability.
:X
To those, according to their need.
Ah, the mantra of Socialism.
Hammer of Truth
OK, on one hand you've got a point... especially seeing as how this comes on the heels of the largest tuition increase at PSU in over 20 years.
Then again, lets look at the numbers. Napster charges $9.95 a month for unlimited streaming. The deal is only for the 13,000 or so students in the dorms. So that's around $130,000 a month, not including any discounts the University is getting. So for the 8 months of regular sessions we're looking at around $1 million dollars (again not including discounts) to keep the kids streaming. Penn State's operating budget for 2000-2001 was over $2 billion dollars, so that million bucks or so is really only a drop in the bucket. At my school we got "free" buss passes and "free" software all paid for through liscensing agreements negotiated by the unversity, so why not "free" music as well, especially if it helps the university avoid hassles from the RIAA?
What about people like me who listen to international bands? We're left out in the dark, and therefore we still must illegally download music to get our fix one way or another. And to make it worse, I'm a Mac user, so WINE won't even run on PowerPC architecture. Honestly, I don't think Napster nor Penn State even took into consideration the people who don't run Windows, since most kids honestly get sucked up at the local Best Buy "$600 Steal--perfect for college student" "deals" that include XP.
Exactly, and this isn't about offering free music, it's about pushing a proprietary file format.
Why is it that whenever there's a shady deal going down, something that just doesn't sit right, like this ridiculous Napster scam for example, you can bet Microsoft is involved every time.
especially if it helps the university avoid hassles from the RIAA?
Exactly. Even if this doesn't stop piracy at all, it gives the perception that PSU is giving in to legal music services, and encouraging people to move away from the illegal ones.
And if there's one truth in all the media world it's this: groups like the RIAA work on perception, not reality.
If this is PSU's way of tossing a can of shark-repellant at the RIAA's lawyers, I don't blame them one bit.
My sig is blank, I typed this by hand.
Bandwidth has multiple uses, though, and most students could use it in some way. If they didn't own a computer, they could still go to the labs and browse the web or get email. People without the right Napster compatible hardware and software are out of luck here, and money to Napster just goes to Napster and the music companies.
It could also help fund the research that makes things like the Internet and cures for diseases possible.
Universities are where these things happen.
Things that benefit society are infinitely more important than giving students a refund.
evil adrian
You know what they need next?
They need to charge students $500 per semester so they can be provided with a free X-Box and games. Oh, and another $300 so they can watch free movies.
What fucking robbery. Why the hell is a university buying entertainment services for its students rather than letting them spend their own damn money?