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.

Napster contra IPod

[andrewman327]

I love the free Napster service that my school (GW) gives, but many people use iPods and find it easier to steal music through MyTunes or OurTunes.

Keep stuff after graduation?

[neonprimetime]

the email introducing the service explained that students could keep their songs only until they graduated. "After I read that, I decided I didn't want to even try it,"

This is seriously not enforced, so they shouldn't worry about it. I still use software (mostly MSFT and Anti-virus stuff) I received free from college. And I graduated several years ago already.

Re:Even crap isn't worth free

[FunnyLookinHat]

No, believe me. CTrax is an absolute piece of crap. Last time I used it I could only access it via internet explorer, and if you queued up more than one song (even just two) to download rather than picking one at a time it would slow the interface down to absolute crap.

I actually interviewed to work with them and used the opportunity to basically tell them why their product sucked and why nobody was using it rather than to try to obtain a job. It ended as such and I wonder to this day if they've improved at all because I refuse to even visit the service. All of my friends have stayed away from it as well for this reason.

In any case, if I'm offered a "legal" means to download the song then why can't I simply obtain that song via different means that may be faster (such as the DC++ network we had running at Purdue for a while, or via torrents)? It makes NO sense to me to say I can get the song one way but not another, even if the only difference is the DRM that is thrown and blown all over the song. (I could, after all, just use it myself for personal use and not burn it; which is exactly what I did with them).

Free translates for me as: you get what you pay for.

Big Surprise

[spykemail]

The exact same thing happened at my school, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Except thanks to the ignorant members of our student "government" (I use that term very, very loosely) technically we brought it on outselves.

We got the "Ruckus" music service - which doesn't work on Mac OS X or iPods - and is little better than an extremely low quality (and ugly) jukebox.

Of course, 99% of RPI students are still illegally stealing music on the internet, but the school and the student government don't care because they look good for having "a legal alternative."

Apparently someone forgot to tell them about the iTunes music store (and the plethora of other online stores).

You can call college students a lot of things - including stupid. But apparently we're not stupid enough to embrace crappy music services when we can do better using P2P file sharing software.

Re:Napster contra IPod

[m94mni]

That would be stealing the *CD*, not the music. Now, stealing music would be more like doing what this sheriff [bizjournals.com] is trying to do, but illegally.

I don't know how I would do that, however...

Free isn't enough.

[Rob T Firefly]

In order to succeed in any field, you have to outdo the competition. These "free" services are not acknowledging the fact that their direct competition isn't only iTunes, but the illicit file-swapping services. Were I a college student who could magic up a torrent of completely free MP3s or OGGs which are perfectly archivable and portable, the only thing that would really sway me from this (if I were the type to even consider switching) would be something with a comparable level of usability, yet legal. For all but the most paranoid file-swappers, the simple fact that a junky service is OMG LEGAL!!!#$%^ really isn't enough to justify the insane levels of crippling they're doing to the media. And the rest of the kids aren't so against dropping a few dollars on iTunes for what they want.

Server enforced

[SuperKendall]

This is not like software that you can just install and keep running.

The music checks back with the server every so often to make sure you are still authorized to play. If you are not listed as a student, your ability to play is gone.

Free?

[oneiros27]

It's even less free than the 'voluntary library gift' (the $50 charge that GW puts on your bill each semester, that you have to request be removed).

It may be free in that you don't have to directly pay Napster, but the money has to come from somewhere -- it's probably covered under the 'Student Activities Fee' or one of the other many fees that you get hit with each semester.

(yes, I'm cynical -- I'm both an alum, and an ex-ISS employee. I've seen how much GW wastes on bad IT implementation. Hell, I even reported Nabih Bedewi [gwhatchet.com] to the engineering school for misappropriation of equipment almost a decade ago.)

Re:what software?

[Kurayamino-X]

I've seen D/L speeds of 2 MB/s. (Yes, that's BYTES, not bits.) Let's see you get that on P2P

Because you absolutely must download an artists entire discography in 10 minutes to see if it's worth buying the CDs?
That is the excuse we're all still using, yeah?

Re:An RPI Student's View...

[sabNetwork]

Washington University in St. Louis [wustl.edu], my overpriced private school, recently pulled the same bullshit. They surveyed the student body and, despite our requests, ended up going with Ruckus.

Ruckus is Windows-only (despite a significant Mac base at my school) and only provides DRM-protected Windows Media downloads. Burning isn't free. You can't use it with an iPod, of course. To make matters worse, the software creates pop-up ads while the software is open.

Something dirty is happening behind the scenes in these Ruckus deals. Student's DON'T WANT IT. It's NOT USEFUL.