I'm a student at NIU, and also work relatively closely with the folks responsible for bringing Ruckus to NIU, so I've had a chance to play with the (Windows-only) software.
The downloads are tethered to Windows Media Player (with all the DRM nastiness you might expect.) Music is downloaded to the local machine and can only be played on that machine AFAIK. Video is streamed to the desktop on demand.
For what it's worth, I tend to agree with the posters who think that this move was more to cover the university's collective ass than to bring a whiz-bang new service to the students. The fact that its basically extortion doesn't seem to bother any of the decision makers.
I do admit that I'm more than a little horked-off that I'm going to be forced to pay an RIAA-tax, for a service I have no use for, so that I can go to a public university.
disclaimers & stuff
I am not acting as an agent for anybody; especially not NIU, the government, the CIA, the NSA, or the Legion of Doom. These are MY (well-reasoned and insightful) opinions, all mine, bwa ha ha!
Slashdot Mirror
The downloads are tethered to Windows Media Player (with all the DRM nastiness you might expect.) Music is downloaded to the local machine and can only be played on that machine AFAIK. Video is streamed to the desktop on demand.
For what it's worth, I tend to agree with the posters who think that this move was more to cover the university's collective ass than to bring a whiz-bang new service to the students. The fact that its basically extortion doesn't seem to bother any of the decision makers.
I do admit that I'm more than a little horked-off that I'm going to be forced to pay an RIAA-tax, for a service I have no use for, so that I can go to a public university.