“Princeton University has joined a growing list of colleges that have deals to allow students to download music free — and legally,” The Associated Press reports. “The Ivy League school announced the arrangement Wednesday with Ruckus, a Virginia-based company that markets music solely to college students.”
“Under the deal, Princeton students can put all the music they want on their computer hard drives through Ruckus’ library of 1.5 million tracks. The songs are free because advertisers pay the company to get on Web sites that students see,” AP reports.
AP reports, “But there’s a catch: It will cost students about $20 a semester to be able to put the tunes on their portable MP3 players. And the many Princeton students toting Apple’s iPod will be out of luck. The music won’t play on those popular devices.”
Full article here.
A stupid move by a supposedly top tier institution. Ruckus is a limited, exclusionary, Windows-only outfit. Apple iPods and Macs are not supported. How many Princeton students are excluded? Many. Look around, Princeton decision-makers. See all of those MacBooks? Notice all of those iMacs in the dorms? 45-percent of computers purchased at Princeton this year were Apple Macs, you morons! What idiot signed off on this stupidity?
Princeton has failed their student body. If they signed with an elevator service that offered narrow doors not wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, you’d bet there’d be a “ruckus” at Princeton, wouldn’t you?
There is zero difference here except they’re excluding a much larger group of students. Why has Princeton decided to exclude a large portion of their student body? Are Princeton students asking administrators why this bad deal was made? They should be.
The smart decision, the one that supports ALL students, whether they use Macs or suffer with Windows, and supports iPods, which we’d guestimate comprises 80-percent or more of Princeton students with MP3 players, is Apple’s iTunes U.
Apple’s iTunes U is a free, hosted service for colleges and universities that provides easy access to their educational content, including lectures and interviews, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Based on the same easy-to-use technology of the iTunes Store, iTunes U also offers typical Apple simplicity and portability. Through iTunes U, students can download content to their Macs or PCs, regardless of their location. They can listen to and view that content on their Mac or PC, or transfer it to iPod for listening or viewing on the go. Instructors can easily post and change content on their own without impacting the IT department. And, of course, students can upload their own content to share with professors or with the class.
In addition to providing a great conduit for digital academic content, iTunes is also the largest source of legal digital music available online. So students can buy and download music that has both educational and entertainment value, with all copyrights honored and the full support of the music industry.
Apple allows for the purchase of songs at a discount on behalf of educational institutions’ students through the iTunes Volume Songs Program.
More information: http://www.apple.com/education/products/ipod/itunes_u.html
Related articles:
45-percent of computers purchased at Princeton this year were Apple Macs – October 12, 2006
College students spurn ‘free’ music from iPod-incompatible iTunes Store also-rans – September 13, 2006
Free, legal and ignored: Mac- and iPod-incompatible beleaguered Napster dying at colleges – July 06, 2006
Ohio University chooses Apple’s iTunes U for students and faculty – May 11, 2006
University of California puts video lectures on Apple’s ‘iTunes U’ – April 25, 2006
University of Pennsylvania excludes Mac users with Windows-only music service – March 21, 2006
Apple and Stanford University open ‘Stanford on iTunes’ to the public – January 25, 2006
Apple expands free, hosted ‘iTunes U’ service for colleges and universities – January 24, 2006
I guess they don’t have courses in marketing at Princeton
uuuh… MDN? perhaps comparing mac users to the disabled isn’t the best analogy…
Old Albert E. will turn in his grave. He never appreciated stupidity.
– It is insane that our higher-ed system is spending resources and time figuring out how to get students “free” download music legally so as to curb students from stealing it off the interent, because “If we don’t, they’ll steal it anyways” mentality.
Hello?! Anyone with reason come in please!
How about college’s focus on educating and lowering tuition $20 a semester!?
Better yet, let’s use that money to teach our young minds-o-mush some ethical and moral boundries and the consequense of their actions…
Oh sorry, what was I thinking?… Anyone got another Keg?!
This is really bad. Once again a few decide for many. This looks just like the IT managers at companies, a few decide for the rest, and dont seem to care about their “customers” they only see “users” (i.e dummies)
Some Princeton purchasing prick is on the take.
Just wondering, with such a compelling product as iTunes U, how did this deal with Princeton actually go through? Did they consider alternatives? Did anyone on the technology board know about iTunes U? Did Apple market iTunes U to every university? I wish we could find out their decision-making process, instead of them springing this surprise disaster on the college community. Usually huge deals like this have to go before a technology board for public or administrative input.
Another unfortunate factor could be, as much as iTunes is popular, college admins and technology groups in the academic field don’t have a clue that iTunes U even exists. These decision-makers just sign on to whatever company courts them aggressively and first. I’m almost sure that Apple hasn’t done any sort of marketing for iTunes U. Remember how their academic market share was eroding a few years ago because they pulled all their personnel out of hyping Apple at schools?
Never even heard of Ruckus, so that tells you how popular this outfit is. Probably has no name music by amature artists too.
What a waste of money. I hope the students aren’t forced to pay $20 a semester for this crap. If not they won’t get much business from Princeton.
Institutions are risk averse and that is what is driving these ‘agreements’. It’s not anything more than legal cover for schools from getting sued over students breaking the DMCA over their networks. They can go into court and state that they have provided a legal outlet for students to acquire digital music.
Princeton’s admin doesn’t care who it’s with as long as it is available. Repeat- it’s not about providing a service to students as much as legal cover for the school.
This is the epitome of the backroom deal, as was Microsoft’s deal with Universal to get a piece of every Zune sold.
The deal that really matters is the one the individual makes when he or she purchases either music or a device to play it on.
Not supporting the iPod/Mac is like not having wheelchair access??
Ruckus?
Reminds me of the word “dufus”.
It will be interesting to see (follow=up idea here, MDN) to see how many students subscribe.
Tell you something else.
I’ll bet 80% ipod owners is incorrect. Higher.
Maybe 90%?
Yea, but Ruckus is FREE for students. iTunes U costs money for students. Which do you think would encourage more students to legally download music?
That <u>must</u> be a typo.
Shouldn’t Ruckus be spelled with an F instead of an R?
I hate to point it out… and in fact iTunes U may do this… but doesn’t that option exclude other mp3 players? I mean, yes, they are probably in the minority number wise. But if we’re going to bitch about segments of the population being excluded, shouldn’t we also be asking Apple to open iTunes U up to other players? Or at least asking for two services so none of the students are excluded?
“Not supporting the iPod/Mac is like not having wheelchair access??’
Only if they are scrollwheelchairs.
Tomo, the point is that blatant discrimination is bad policy in an education of higher learning. Do you not understand the concept of an analogy?
Since the Zune eco-system is only for Zune market place; didn’t they just alienate the Zune people too? So, they are saying that the plays for sure strategy is working against MS too? Irony really is a wonderful thing. Too bad it doesn’t really matter as it sounds as if they won’t have many people actually using the service.
Typical decision made by someone who doesn’t get it and just reason in terms of numbers.
IT Guy and the Manager having to sign the deal:
M: What about Ruckus?
IT: Yeah, compatible with most MP3 player brands.
M: I heard not with iPod though.
IT: Indeed, but that’s one brand. Students will be able to use all others.
M: Ok, that sounds fair. An MP3 player is an MP3 player, right? What about costs?
IT: Ruckus would come to just $20 per semester per student.
M: Yeah, not bad, but not on an iPod, right?
IT: Right but $20 on an iPod would only get 20 songs, in two semesters that is 40 songs maximum per student. With Ruckus they could get all they want with the $20 subscription.
M: Ok, you convinced me. Let’s get Ruckus. It’s clearly the best solution. Ah, could you get an MP3 for my daughter as well?
IT: Sure, Microsoft just released Zune, it has got wireless.
M: Fantastic, get one for me please
************************************************************************
They do not get it!
BTW, Ruckus does not work on Zune either.
“The smart decision, the one that supports ALL students, whether they use Macs or suffer with Windows”
What about those who decided to stop suffering with Windows and installed Linux, because they couldn’t afford a Mac, or other reasons?
First, comparing the choice of Ruckus to small elevator doors is asinine.
Higher Ed institutions are dealing with risk liability on the issue of music sharing which is one reason an agreement like this gets done. They are continually getting DCMA notices resulting from student use of campus (funded by public funds in many cases) networks to illegally share music. Dealing with these notices takes up valuable staff resources and puts the institution at risk for lawsuits. One way to deal with this issue is to provide other means or even multiple means for students to legally obtain music. My institution is getting ready to go with a request for proposal (RFP) for a service such as this and already has an agreement with Apple for iTunes U in hand. The Apple agreement is mainly to facilitate podcasting on campus and not about providing music. Apple does not provide a cost effect way to provide music to students via iTunes. They already own the market so why should they? Lets face it, everyone with an iPod already has iTunes and uses it anyway so iTunes U is not going to affect that one bit. iPods are king on every campus and Ruckus is not going to change that. However, Ruckus can provide a valuable service on campus with social networking tools. Also if a student likes a tune they hear on Ruckus, they can slide over to iTunes and purchase it for their iPod. Think of Ruckus as providing free previews. In the interest of disclosure, I use a Mac every day and they will only get my iPod away from me by yanking it out of my cold dead hands.
UNDENIABLE FACT 1: Young people want their music PORTABLE, period!
UNDENIABLE FACT 2: It is no one’s goal to sit in front of (or anywhere near) a computer and rock out in a dorm room! They want music on their MP3 players, pure and simple.
UNDENIABLE FACT 3: Add up the market share of the Zune and the iPod and subtract it from 100. What does that leave you with, perhaps 10% of the student body being able to take their tunes with them from the Ruckus service?
UNDENIABLE FACT 4: Someone’s head is gonna’ roll at good old PU!
All groups and institutions are prone to their Stalin types grabbing some power and inflicting it on others. These are the bozos — the poisoners of life and joy.
I’m sure the Princeton students will cause a major stink and they certainly will not be using the (R/F)uckus service — bend over and grab your ankles — by any significant measure. This will serve as a warning to universities to not shove down the throats of students the garbage that free choice markets have already rejected.
Biscuit-
are you nuts?
Makes me smile with common sympathy to hear about a US zero-brain outfit, as the UK is full of it.
I cite the ad on this MDN page for Tesco, a store that offered a ‘free download’ at World Soccer Cup time, and would it play on an iPod — I leave the answer to you.
Their IT tech claimed he’d had “a lot of trouble with his iPod”, which I took as suit-speak for talking out of his crack.