It has been two months since students on the Syracuse University campus began using the Ruckus Network, a legal alternative to illicit file sharing. So far, about 600 students have subscribed to the service for this semester.

These students have downloaded about 200,000 music tracks and approximately 500 movies, said Computing and Media Services writing specialist Judy Holmes.

Dr. Paul Gandel, the vice president for Information Technology and Services at SU, said he’s been happy with the response thus far.

‘I’ve been pleased by how well (Ruckus has) done, especially given how early it is,’ he said. ‘We won’t know anything until another year. So far I think Ruckus is pleased with the response, though.’

Gandel said there was an initial push of subscribers at the beginning of this semester, SU’s first with Ruckus, but since then it has trailed off as expected. Gandel heard anecdotal evidence that students like the service and that these results are typical of colleges. The most prominent complaint has been Ruckus’ incompatibility with Macintosh computers.

‘It’s up to the students (whether or not SU will keep its subscription with Ruckus),’ Gandel said. ‘We’ll see if this is a service they continue to want.’

Gandel said CMS plans to keep Ruckus on campus at least through the spring 2006 semester, when CMS will solicit more formal feedback. If the response is negative, SU will look at other legal file-sharing services.

Some students complained they could not transfer songs to their digital mp3 players and others said the music selection is limited.

Peter Ceran, an undeclared freshman in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said he liked the service, but said he felt it needs more media.

‘There’s a lot of music you can’t find,’ Ceran said. ‘I’m into punk rock and hip-hop and I like bands like Offspring and Linkin Park. (Ruckus) really doesn’t have too much of their music.’

Ceran described Ruckus as a hit-or-miss service. He found Korn’s newest single a day after it was released, but said he sometimes can’t find older albums.

Josh Weiner, director of communications at Ruckus, said the network acquires music by making deals with individual record labels. Ruckus is the only legal file-sharing service that currently does this.

Weiner said Ruckus has more than doubled its music library since the spring of 2005, and it adds new music each week.

Ruckus eliminates potential viruses that free file-sharing programs may infect a computer with, said Sarah Benedict, a sophomore business management and policy studies major.

‘I had Kazaa, and it gave my computer a virus,’ Benedict said. ‘I had to completely wipe it off my computer.’

Rohan Sheth, an undeclared freshman in Newhouse, said he paid $35 for Ruckus this semester because he feared he might get caught using Limewire and Kazaa, file-sharing programs that allow users to illegally acquire media files without purchasing their copyright licenses.

Sheth used Ruckus three times and hasn’t since.

‘I think it’s a waste of money,’ he said. ‘For the music it promotes having, it doesn’t have a lot on there, especially when you’re trying to find music from different cultures or different languages.’

Sheth, who is Indian, said he could not find music in his parents’ native language. As a result, he will not renew his subscription after the fall semester.

‘I couldn’t find a Lauryn Hill song I wanted because (Ruckus) is so not up to date,’ Sheth said. ‘I can listen to songs on the radio, and then when I look for them on Ruckus, I can’t find them.’

The lack of selection led American University to switch from Ruckus to Napster, an alternative legal file-sharing service, this semester.

American, which is near the Ruckus headquarters in the Washington, D.C. area, used a trial version of the program in the spring of 2005. The response Executive Director of Housing and Dining Services Julie Weber got from students led AU to switch to Napster.

Weber said portability was an issue. Students could only access their music library while connected to the campus network. Students could not transfer their mp3s to a digital player such as an iPod and after 30 days, they had to update the individual song licenses for every file.

Sheth said he will not wait for Ruckus to improve its music selection and accessibility. He said he will listen to the music files he already has on his computer and will get more music on the illegal services when he goes home to Pittsburgh.

‘It’s been a couple years since Lauryn Hill made her music,’ he said. ‘She’s a well-known artist who’s won nine Grammys, and she’s not on there. I won’t download (from Ruckus) anymore because I honestly can’t find what I want.’

Published on October 25, 2005 at 12:00 pm