Ruckus makes its IU debut, offers free music downloading

Ruckus, the music downloading service the IU Student Association brought to campus, will be available to students today, providing free, legal access to 1.5 million licensed songs. \nStudents will not be charged to download music, and IUSA is not spending any portion of student fees or University funding on the service, said Garrett Scharton, IUSA chief of external affairs. \nRuckus allows users to download music and create a profile to share music and playlists with friends in their social network, Scharton said. \nPC users can create an account by simply visiting the Web site www.Ruckus.com and clicking "Join today." Students can activate an account by entering a valid IU-Bloomington e-mail address and choosing a password. After downloading and installing the Ruckus player, users can search the Ruckus Web site for music. \nApple users must make their computers compatible with Windows to use Ruckus. Macintosh computers equipped with Intel chips can do this in two ways. \nThe least expensive option requires Apple users to purchase the Windows CD -- available to IU students, faculty and staff for about $10 at the Computer Connection store in the Indiana Memorial Union -- and download Boot Camp, available free at www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/. \nBoot Camp requires users to restart their computer to switch from the Mac OS to Windows. Once in Windows mode, Ruckus will work, but Boot Camp can't run Windows and Mac programs simultaneously. \nA second option allows Apple users to run the Mac operating system and Windows at the same time. To do this, users must purchase $10 Windows CD and the Parallels Desktop for Mac program, which is available for about $80 at the Computer Connection store or online at www.parallels.com. \nInstalling Parallels allows Apple users to open Ruckus with one additional keystroke while still in the Mac OS, Scharton said. \nJunior Andrew Simmons, an Apple user, said he wouldn't spend the extra money for additional software. \n"I don't think the extra effort is worth it," Simmons said. \nBut senior Kevin Waltz said he thinks "it's a great idea" to bring Ruckus to campus. \n"If people really want (Ruckus), they won't mind paying extra," Waltz said.\nUsers can transfer downloaded music from their computer to a portable media player for a $20 per semester fee. The portable media player must be equipped with PlaysForSure technology, which allows subscription music to be read, Scharton said. A list of portable music devices with PlaysForSure technology can be found at the Web site www.playsforsure.com. Apple's iPod is not built with PlaysForSure technology.\nSenior Susanne Simeri said her iPod is the reason she has a digital music collection.\n"I specifically download songs to make playlists to put on my iPod," Simeri said. "I rarely play music on my computer so the service would be useless to me."\nSophomore Geena Lawrence, a PC user, said she does not use an iPod and she might use Ruckus.\n"It might be nice to just use it to have music on my computer," Lawrence said.\nScharton said students shouldn't complain about downloading additional software in order to use Ruckus and stay legal. He said Apple users should consider that the cost of downloading the music from iTunes or purchasing CDs might cost more than the additional software for some students. \n"If you plan on listening to or accessing music throughout your college career, it's in your best interest to go that extra step," Scharton said. \nAbout 12 percent of the campus used Apple computers when IUSA and Ruckus began negotiating their partnership last spring, said Peter Opere, the Ruckus sales account associate who has been working with IUSA. \nThis year there has been a slight increase in the percentage of Apple users at IU, said Christine Fitzpatrick, UITS communications officer. \nIUSA realizes current technology does not permit an option that would easily satisfy both Apple and PC users, Scharton said, but IUSA chose the service it thought would benefit the largest percentage of IU students. \n"From IUSA's perspective, we are faced with the decision to help solve problems on campus," Scharton said. "Even though Ruckus isn't a silver bullet, it is still the best option to help curb illegal downloading." \nFor more information about Ruckus, visit the IUSA Web site, www.indiana.edu/~iusa/, or the Ruckus Web site, www.Ruckus.com. More information about running Windows on an Apple computer can be found on Apple's Web site, www.apple.com.