Napster at University of Rochester

[MacRumors]

The University of Rochester announced today that they have signed up with Napster to provide digital music downloads to their students:

The 3,700 students living in University of Rochester residence halls will gain free access to Napster’s popular Premium music service later this semester, in the first digital music agreement between Napster, a division of Roxio (nasdaq: ROXI), and a private university.

Penn State Univeristy previously announced (and launched) a similar plan based on Napster's subscription service. Under the service, students will be able to stream and download an unlimited number of songs -- though students are unable to transfer or burn the songs unless purchased ($.99/song).

According to one current student, while iTunes appears to be the predominant student-chosen service on campus, Napster was able to offer the school a set plan for their music service.

[~Shard~]

Whatever, bring it on Napster - I could care less. In the end, iTunes will remain supreme!

[Dan8302]

I live right down the street from the U of R, and all I have to say is sorry guys, that really sucks.

[arn]

Napster's really stepping up. This college student initiative is potentially a very powerful thing.

You get 'em free anyhow.... when you want to buy one... why not just buy it from Napster?

arn

[crees!]

So this is what their tuition is going towards. I think schools need to change their priorities.

[gwuMACaddict]

is this where the students are forced to pay for the service as part of their 'technology fee'?

or is it really free for them...

[Photorun]

I know people who go to U of R and there's a pretty good Mac contingent there. Man, that's bull****. Thing is, NO this isn't an "Apple or nothing..." rant here from me, I think it's stupid any University makes any type of "it's this choice or no choice" thing, it's BS. If someone wants to download from Napster, fine (they're dumb, but fine) or iTunes or even (shudder) MusicMatch. It's stupid that a University would buy into this service as such. For an institution of higher learning this is very dumb indeed!

[Dj Kioto]

Being a Rochester resident, I'd say tha'ts just another reason Rochester needs it's own Apple Store, Comp USA can bite me... unless I need to get my powerbook fixed after I dropped it, then they'll send it in and it'll come back practically refurbished... looks like we need both!

[vitrector]

Originally posted by crees!
So this is what their tuition is going towards. I think schools need to change their priorities.

WHen I was in college, student fees went for this kind of stuff, not the frank tuition.

Anyway, iTunes needs to step it up, 'cause between the wide availablity, without installing new sw, of WMP, and these kind of deals, the iTunes success may not have much staying power....

[rideahyperLite]

this sucks. i am a student at penn state living in the dorms and recently they put up a firewall so that you can't use programs such as acquisition to download anything. they did this so that students would use napster instead. its really annoying since im on a mac and i can't use napster, not that i really want to, but its just principal that now i am stuck without anything. i can still use itunes but if im going to pay for something i would rather have a hard copy. anyway the napster service here is terrible because u cant download new songs u can only stream them which is annoying. ok im done

[rdowns]

Originally posted by ~Shard~
Whatever, bring it on Napster - I could care less. In the end, iTunes will remain supreme!

Sorry, pet peeve of mine. It's "I couldN'T care less."

As a side note, Pepsi just aired their iTunes ad during American Idol. Huge audience- targeted!

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by gwuMACaddict
is this where the students are forced to pay for the service as part of their 'technology fee'?

Somebody is paying Napster, so it has to be part of the total cost students are paying, one way or another.

Does the arrangment allow students to carry music around in portable players? Edit: It says no in the article. So, for starters, it's only on-campus streaming. I doubt students will be satisfied settling for that.

[KindredMAC]

Frickin Rochester!!!!
Figures, Kodak has pretty much dumped all Apple R&D for their applications and professional photo services and now U of Ra-cha-cha goes and does this......

[vitrector]

Originally posted by Photorun
I know people who go to U of R and there's a pretty good Mac contingent there. Man, that's bull****. Thing is, NO this isn't an "Apple or nothing..." rant here from me, I think it's stupid any University makes any type of "it's this choice or no choice" thing, it's BS. If someone wants to download from Napster, fine (they're dumb, but fine) or iTunes or even (shudder) MusicMatch. It's stupid that a University would buy into this service as such. For an institution of higher learning this is very dumb indeed!

I wish I could agree, but from an organization point of view, this is no different than a Coke or Pepsi kind of decision. A University administration could care less about standards war blah etc., they care about the most affordable, best deal for the $$ they spend!

[musicmaniac210]

Boy, would I love to see Berklee College of Music doing something like this next year with iTunes.

The whole school requires 15" PowerBooks for all students anyways....

[joemama]

MMMMMM.....Dibella's...!


Wait, does this agreement mean they will block any iTune Music downloads?

[fredwick]

pooh, accidently clicked possitive.

[Krizoitz]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
Somebody is paying Napster, so it has to be part of the total cost students are paying, one way or another.

Does the arrangment allow students to carry music around in portable players? Edit: It says no in the article. So, for starters, it's only on-campus streaming. I doubt students will be satisfied settling for that.

As a college student the idea that I would be paying for a service in terms of fees that I can't even use is appalling.

Oh and the reason they are doing this is very very simple. Marketing. Get kids to come by saying, hey look we offer you free music! No need to get sued! Come here and give us all your money and rack up lots of debt because we care more about making money than taking care of students (don't even get me started about how much students at my school are ripped of by the Food and Housing Services)

[Analog Kid]

Originally posted by arn
Napster's really stepping up. This college student initiative is potentially a very powerful thing.

You get 'em free anyhow.... when you want to buy one... why not just buy it from Napster?

arn

Might actually be more powerful than that-- when a school decides to give a laptop to every freshman, for example, would they pick one that's incompatible with their PleaseDontSueMe music service?

[york2600]

Originally posted by rideahyperLite
this sucks. i am a student at penn state living in the dorms and recently they put up a firewall so that you can't use programs such as acquisition to download anything. they did this so that students would use napster instead. its really annoying since im on a mac and i can't use napster, not that i really want to, but its just principal that now i am stuck without anything. i can still use itunes but if im going to pay for something i would rather have a hard copy. anyway the napster service here is terrible because u cant download new songs u can only stream them which is annoying. ok im done

Most schools are firewalling their ResNets and putting up layer 4 switches to regulate the speeds of applications which communicate on common ports. Every California State University does it and last time I heard all the University of California schools were doing it too. They got tired of paying for bandwidth and having legit services move at a snails pace.

[mike412]

Hey! Rochester is in the headlines of macrumors!! Too bad it isn't something positive, though...

Originally posted by Dj Kioto
Being a Rochester resident, I'd say tha'ts just another reason Rochester needs it's own Apple Store, Comp USA can bite me... unless I need to get my powerbook fixed after I dropped it, then they'll send it in and it'll come back practically refurbished... looks like we need both!

I agree...we need an Apple store! It sucks having your nearest Apple store over an hour away in Buffalo. CompUSA isn't that bad, but it would be nice to go bug the geniuses at the genius bar every one and a while, and to be able to go to all the specials Apple is always having at their stores. We can only hope...

[mms]

Originally posted by rdowns
As a side note, Pepsi just aired their iTunes ad during American Idol. Huge audience- targeted!

The same ad as the SuperBowl one?

[TranceClubMusic]

Originally posted by arn
Napster's really stepping up. This college student initiative is potentially a very powerful thing.

You get 'em free anyhow.... when you want to buy one... why not just buy it from Napster?

arn

I totaly agree about the stepping up from Napster.
I am also very sad to admit that when it comes to my style of music - Napster has 200% more selection of music. iTunes is great for popular music but seriously lacks on underground and unique music. Almost every search for Trance Music has left me dry with iTunes - but Napster has a HUGE selection of the music I love.
Its a catch 22 - because I love the iTunes interface and hate Napster - but for some odd reason Napster sells all the Music I crave for. I sent an email to Apple - I hope they actually read comments of subscribers for more types of music.
Thats my 2 cents.
John

[TranceClubMusic]

Originally posted by mms
The same ad as the SuperBowl one?

It was a much shorter version of the Super Bowl one.

[jwhitnah]

Uh-oh. This is bad. Apple needs the streaming option Napster has. The problem is, most deans are unoriginal and simply imitate other deans. This could be a serious edge for Napster against Apple if it gains 'Big Mo.'