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Students Skip College Music Services

WSJdpatton writes "College students don't turn down much that's free. But when it comes to online music, even free hasn't been enough to persuade many students to use the digital download services colleges and universities are providing." I know that the Ctrax service offered by my current school — Temple University — and many others (it's "available to all college students with a '.edu' email address") has an ugly, awkward interface. Worse, the free (gratis) part is an expiring, "tethered" collection of music for those who use it; downloads to keep are fee-per-track.

6 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Even crap isn't worth free by linvir · · Score: 2, Funny

    Free? My uncle sells manure at a good few pounds per bag. It's a good source of income.

  2. Free software! by NineNine · · Score: 4, Funny

    Careful... there are lots of Free Software advocates around here that you're liable to upset!

  3. Re:No thank you by Captain+Zep · · Score: 4, Funny
    You must be mistaken. The homepage clearly states that it's easy to use and is just what you want:

    "Its ease of use, speed, lack of viruses and spyware and affordable pricing are in line with what college students' seek today."

    Z.

  4. Re:Even crap isn't worth free by ennadaiit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Good source of income, eh? Must be good shit. Couldn't resist...

  5. It's your fault anyway by Moraelin · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, see, the F/OSS approach will be more along the rational and logical lines of pointing out that you:

    A) should quit whining and fix it yourself already, since you already have the source,
    B) are an idiot (doubly so if what you needed is related in any way to user interface, reading existing files, etc). We should have mandatory IQ tests to prevent idiots like you from getting anywhere near a computer,
    C) should RTFM already. In fact, you should write the RTFM, since it doesn't exist yet. Get to it already.
    D) are an idiot
    E) are a MS fanboy and/or paid to call their favourite program crap
    F) are an idiot. Even by MS shill/fanboy/etc standards.
    G) should stop doing anything that can't be done with their program. In fact, you should feel _proud_ to abandon any work you need done, or spend a few months learning command-line ways to do it, just to show the middle finger to MS.
    H) are an idiot for needing that, or for doing it like that, in the first place
    I) are only using a closed-source program instead because you've pirated it. We just know you did.
    J) did we mention that you're an idiot yet?
    K) all the above
    L) like K, and you're an idiot too

    --
    A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
  6. Re:+5 Insightful? Oh please... by jank1887 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tea, Earl Grey, hot.