As part of this year's housing rates, AU will include Napster, a program for legally downloading music, after last spring's failed trial of Ruckus, a similar but more expensive software.
Pricing details have not been worked out, but the cost could be around $12.50 per semester, included with housing costs, Weber said. Students who plan to live on campus in the fall have already been charged $25 per semester, which is what Ruckus would have cost, for a music downloading service and will be reimbursed when the final price for Napster subscriptions is decided.
The main reason the University has chosen to offer a music downloading program is that student housing amenities factor into prospective students' college decisions, and the service "[is] one of those things from a marketing standpoint that people look at," Weber said.
Napster also could "afford the University some legal protection" if the Recording Industry Association of America or Motion Picture Association of America wanted to take action against illegal downloading on campus, according to Weber.
"Having a legal option might prevent some of our own students from getting in trouble," Weber said. Last November, the RIAA requested the names of three AU students who were illegally downloading files from the Internet, The Eagle reported Feb. 7.
The program will not run on Macs, so Housing and Dining is working on a method to allow those Mac users to opt out of the fee. About 12.5 percent of users on AU's network operate Macs, according to e-Operations.
Ashley Mushnick, a campus representative for Apple, said she wished Housing and Dining had chosen software compatible with both operating systems. Many students who use iPods will be disappointed to find out they can't play Napster songs on them, she said.
"From an iPod user's perspective, what's the point of paying for songs I can't actually put on my iPod?" Mushnick said.
Napster allows students to choose to pay $5 per month directly to the company to burn songs on CDs or Napster-compatible mp3 players, but not iPods, Weber said. iPods make up 80 to 90 percent of the market share of mp3 players, according to Mushnick.
Mushnick recommended the University offer iTunes, which, unlike the other programs AU considered, is not a subscription-based service. But with Apple's discounts, colleges can purchase songs in bulk, and the college can make a small percentage of money from song sales, Mushnick said.
A handful of student leaders tested other downloading programs, including Cdigix and Rhapsody, over the summer and recommended Napster. Student Government President Kyle Taylor and Resident Hall Association President Will Mount both endorsed Napster for its ease of use and selection of songs, The Eagle reported June 27.
The contract with Napster will last one year, Weber said, and Housing and Dining will evaluate whether to renew the program by sending out a survey similar to the one sent last April about Ruckus.
That online Ruckus poll showed that while 43 percent of respondents said providing this kind of program is "not important" or "somewhat important," 47 percent thought it was "important" or "very important." Ten percent were undecided.
About one-third of respondents, 36 percent, said Ruckus should not be offered for the 2005-06 academic year. Nearly half, 41 percent, said their use of the program declined during the semester. About half of students surveyed, 47 percent, didn't use the program during the free trial
George Washington University adopted Napster last fall in an agreement that allowed students to play songs on the internet for free but required payment to transfer songs to CDs or mp3 players, according to The Hatchet, GWU's student newspaper. The school's contract with Napster has expired and as of early July, it had not been renewed.
