Monday, September 24, 2007

Ruckus Comes to UCLA

The ad-supported music download service, Ruckus, has just made its fall debut at UCLA. Ruckus, which advertises itself as a free service, has a library of over 3 million independent and mainstream songs. According to the Ruckus website, the only requirement for students is that they be enrolled in a participating institution and have an active ".edu" email address. Reports seem to be mixed on the actual "free" nature of the service. While Engadget reports that the service is free to campuses, Forbes.com reports that the service costs the school a blanket fee unless a minimum number of students register with the service. Ruckus states that it intends to make profits based on its advertisements.

The “free” songs don’t work on Mac, can’t be burned to a CD, and will not play on an iPod or Zune player. The company will release the DRM controls only if a $4.99 subscription fee is paid. In addition, Ruckus also offers premium content ('permanent' songs and movies) for a fee.

I think that this is an excellent idea, provided Ruckus can manage to make it profitable and blanket fees are not charged to institutions. I like that students receive access to free, legal music they would have otherwise probably pirated. Will the free service, with all of its stipulations, be a hit with students? Tough to tell. Keep in touch for more updates.

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