Ruckus says it has more than 2.1 million music tracks in its library.
... "Ruckus, a service that boasts more than 2.1 million tracks for
download, ... www.ruckusnetwork.com/
free music: Senior Lisa Udouj explores Ruckus.com Monday while waiting for the start of her Photojournalism II class.
A new addition that could cause heavy competition among popular music
services such as iTunes and Napster, is Ruckus Network, an ad-supported music
downloading service that is now free to all college students.
The Herndon, Va., company recently expanded allowing college students nationwide
free and legal access to its music. Students with a valid university e-mail
account can access more than two million tracks along with movies, TV shows and
music videos.
"For Ruckus, it is all about delivering a great user experience for our
target audience -the 16.5 million full-time college students in the United
States," said Tim Hurley, partner and managing director of BluePoint
Venture Marketing for Ruckus.
Junior Zack Ridenoure believes in the concept of Ruckus. The service is a good
opportunity for students to get the music they want, and the fact that it
appeals especially to college students by being free is even better, Ridenoure
said.
Ruckus not only supplies a sizeable collection of entertainment to satisfy any
avid fan, but also provides a social outlet for its users. Students can create
personal profiles, socialize with users, and also have the ability to share and
download tracks from other users' playlists.
No other music downloading service offers social-networking capabilities, and no
other social networking sites offer great, free content., Hurley said.
Before being entitled to Ruckus' many amenities, each user must create an
account and install the Ruckus Player.
The music library might be an adjustment to some users who are used to the
iTunes setup. Rather than listing songs in order of relevancy to a search, album
covers of artists are listed instead. Users must click on a particular album to
find their songs of interest.
Many might wonder how Ruckus is legal. Ruckus gets its music collection from
record labels and distributors, according to its Web site. Each time a track is
played, Ruckus pays the record label.
Ruckus uses Digital Rights Management, which protects songs by preventing the
transfer of songs outside of the Ruckus site so agreements can be maintained
with record labels. It ensures all songs are being downloaded by Ruckus users.
If students prefer visual mediums such as movies, TV shows and videos, Ruckus'
unlimited movie service Video-On-Demand is available for $15 a semester. Compare
that to iTunes, which, according to its Web site, charges $1.99 for videos and
TV shows and between $9.99 and $14.99 per movie.
Napster does not sell movies, however, but offers its users a selection of more
than three million tracks, including 90,000 albums and 60,000 artists to choose
from. Napster also offers 30-second sound clips for tracks like iTunes, allowing
users to hear music before making purchases.
Ruckus and Napster are similar in that they offer regular and special
memberships that offer different services to suit the diverse needs of their
users. The special memberships for both services allow users to transfer songs
to compatible MP3 players, unlike their regular memberships, which keep users
from burning or transferring tracks to players. Among the special memberships is
Ruckus' Ruckus-To-Go for $20 a semester and Napster's Napster-To-Go, which is
$14.95 a month.
Sophomore Kendra Campbell said she doesn't like the idea of not being able to
transfer songs to her MP3 player. "Ruckus has a good concept, but what's
the point of having songs stay on your computer and not having the ability to
transfer songs if you want to?" Campbell said.
Napster also offers Napster Light, a non-membership service that allows users to
purchase songs for $0.99 each and burn them to CDs or transfer them onto MP3
players.
Apple's music service iTunes does not require membership for its users but takes
a similar approach to Napster Light in that users can purchase songs, games,
movies and shows at specified rates for each medium.
There are many MP3 players available in the market today including the
top-selling iPod. Among the list of compatible MP3 players for Ruckus and
Napster are the Samsung, iriver and Dell, according to the Ruckus and Napster
Web site. Unfortunately, Apple, which manufactures iPod, does not have
contractual agreements with either service and is not compatible.
Since Apple released iPod in recent years, it has dominated the digital music
revolution. More than 21 million iPods were shipped in the last quarter with a
$7 million revenue, according to an Apple press release in Jan. 17, 2007.
Apple's heavy following might have an affect on Ruckus. "The fact that
Ruckus isn't iPod-compatible might hurt the company in terms of competition with
other music services," said sophomore Kristen Lewis.
With Ruckus' new concept of reaching out across the country by providing free
access to entertainment, it seems students have more choices than ever to
satisfy their tastes. Will Ruckus have an impact on other leading services? It's
up to the students at universities around the country.
"Even though it is free and easy to use, some people will still use iTunes
and Napster because they prefer what they already know to new things,"
Ridenoure said.
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free music: Senior Lisa Udouj explores Ruckus.com Monday while waiting for the start of her Photojournalism II class. 
