Brown launched a free legal downloading service called Ruckus on Friday, giving students access to a database of 1.5 million songs and hundreds of movies, television shows and videos.
Ruckus was selected by a committee of University administrators and students as a replacement for Napster, which came to Brown as part of a pilot program last year.
"Brown is pleased to make this legal source for entertainment media available to our students," said Russell Carey '91 MA'06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, in a Sept. 1 press release. "We're confident the service will provide a significant benefit to Brown."
As with Napster, Ruckus is not compatible with Macintosh or Linux operating systems.
While the music downloads are free, a semester of access to movies and televisions shows costs $15, according to the University's Web site. For $20 per semester, Ruckus users can download music to a portable player.
Ruckus is being provided to Brown and seven other local schools - including Providence College and the University of Rhode Island - through the Ocean State Higher Education, Development and Administrative Network, a consortium of non-profit organizations, according to the press release.
About 60 other schools nationwide are using Ruckus.
Though Ruckus is new to Brown, the concept of giving students a free way to legally download music is not.
Last year, Brown received a grant of an undisclosed amount from the Campus Action Network, a music industry group, to provide students with a free, legal method of downloading music. A committee of administrators and students settled on Napster, and the service was provided for the entire academic year.
When the grant from CAN ended, Brown administrators and students again got together to re-evaluate the needs of the community and the performance of Napster.
Some students, including medical students, did not have access to Napster, and the service was not available for use over the summer. Unlike Ruckus, Napster offers only music.
Though Napster was well-received on campus, administrators sought a program that was more inclusive and offered more options, said Project Director Kate Wolford, who was involved in choosing Ruckus.
Wolford said she believes Ruckus exceeds the capabilities of Napster in several ways. Ruckus is available to all undergraduate, graduate and medical students regardless of where they live. It is also possible for faculty and staff to use the service at a discounted rate.
The Ruckus service will last until the summer of 2007. And because it is not limited to the Brown campus, students, teachers and staff will be able to use the service around the country.
Using Ruckus, a faculty member could create a network to post music for a course, Wolford said. She hopes the service will become a valuable teaching tool for the University.
Wolford said Ruckus recently reported that it has just over 1,000 Brown users.
It is uncertain how long Ruckus will be provided to students, Wolford said. The University will likely form a committee involving students this academic year to evaluate the program, she said, adding that OSHEAN will do the same.
One student who has used Ruckus was less than happy with the service.
"In terms of movies, Ruckus lacks the core database to attract new users," said Emilio Flores '09, who has used Ruckus briefly. Flores said he did not find Ruckus to be especially "user-friendly," adding that he dislikes going to the service's Web site to search for media. Napster provided a standalone program that included search capabilities.
But Flores said that, when it comes to downloading, Ruckus is comparable or even faster than Napster.
