With the popularity and success of Napter's music service within Pennsylvania State University, many schools are getting interested in also bring bringing in Napster in a similar way. The University of Rochester is now the first private University to sign a digital music agreement with Napster. Like with Pennsylvania, all 37,000 students living in the University of Rochester will have free access to the service and will be funded by the University. The service will be evaluated through the spring semester in 2005 prior to arranging permanent funding.
The school has a strong interest in music and has always been looking for a legitimate alternative to the illegal file swapping approach. It also intends to educate its students about copyright in the digital world and why to respect it. Napster also aims to gain from this deal from this as the school is claimed to have some of the nation's most promising music content contributors.
The Napster premium service will offer students unlimited downloading and streaming from its 500,000 library within the University's network along with access to over 50 interactive radio stations and many other Napster interactive services. However it is still necessary to purchase any tracks to take them outside of the University's network or transfer to CD or a portable device. As with regular membership, tracks can be purchased for 99 cent per song or $ 9.95 per album. Bulk discounts may also be available. The University says around 3,700 students who live within the University's River campus and Eastman School of Music will have access to the service later this semester and aims to give access to all students this fall as well as offer a membership discount to its staff.
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"Digital distribution of entertainment media is definitely the wave of the future," said University Provost Charles E. Phelps. "I am very proud that the University of Rochester will be at the forefront of this emerging trend by offering students easy access to a high quality, legitimate music service." Phelps chairs a Task Force on Technology for the national Joint Committee on Peer-to-Peer File Sharing, made up of educational leaders and representatives of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). "The Eastman School has always been in the business of defining the future of music in the United States," said James Undercofler, dean and director of the Eastman School. "We're eager to launch this promising venture to make the largest catalog of music available through this innovative service." "This deal between Napster and the University of Rochester demonstrates the momentum behind our initiative to put the world of legitimate digital music in the hands of college students -- the nation's most demanding music consumers," said Larry Linietsky, Napster's senior vice president of business development. "This relationship is especially exciting because it not only gives University of Rochester students easy access to Napster, it will eventually also give Napster's other members access to works by students and faculty of Eastman, some of the nation's most promising music content contributors." Read the full article here. |
If more Universities take on Napster's service, it will not be long before Napster does some catching up with iTunes. If this does happen, most of Napster's members will end up being students where as iTunes' members will be more composed of professional users. At least Napster offers unlimited free listening away to full tracks, although this is only available within the Univeristy itself.
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Source: Yahoo Finance
