Ruckus fails to quell University online music piracy

Why is it that students prefer to download music illegally when there are three million songs available legally and for free from Ruckus?

Music services differ in terms of song selection and compatibility with portable devices, and both of these concerns are influenced by the economics, technology and legal framework of the music industry.

The RIAA and major record labels in the United States have chosen to battle digital music piracy through the legal system by suing students, like Daniel Peng ’05, who share copyrighted content with others. Students often settle to avoid going to trial, generally paying the RIAA between $3,000 and $5,000.

When Ruckus was introduced, then USG president-elect Rob Biederman ’08 told The Daily Princetonian that he expected the deal to “completely alleviate” music piracy on campus because the service would provide a free and legal avenue for downloading music.

But this free and legal avenue still lags behind other fee-based models in the market.

Ruckus currently offers only half as many songs as the iTunes store, with only three million songs to the Apple platform’s six million. Ruckus does, however, offer more music from the four major record labels than other competing music-subscription companies like eMusic, which focuses mostly on independent labels.

But perhaps one of Ruckus’ biggest weaknesses is its incompatibility with Mac computers: As of January of this year, 6 percent of personal computers in the United States are Macs, according to Gartner, a technology consultancy. This incompatibility has been an even greater problem at the University: The percentage of Mac users on campus has grown from 31 percent in fall 2006 to about 40 percent this academic year, OIT Associate Chief Information Officer Steven Sather said.

“The primary reason that [Ruckus] doesn’t work on Macs is that Apple’s DRM [Digital Rights Management] is exclusive to the iTunes library,” Ruckus spokesman Chris Lawson said, explaining that “it’s a decision that Apple has made, to push people toward using iTunes.”

This incompatibility goes two ways. Not only can Mac users not use Ruckus, but even PC-using iPod owners cannot transfer their Ruckus music to their portable devices. All Ruckus music uses Microsoft DRM as part of its licensing agreement with the various music labels, Lawson explained. As a result, free music from Ruckus can’t be burned onto a CD or played on an iPod without breaking the law and stripping off the DRM protection.

DRM-free music is available, but supply has generally been rather limited. Amazon.com is now changing this.

Earlier this year, the internet giant began offering 4.5 million DRM-free tracks from four of the major record companies. Currently, iTunes has only two million DRM-free tracks, all of which are provided by EMI, a record company.

Sony BMG is planning to introduce a subscription-based model later this year that would provide users with access to its entire music library and be compatible with any mp3 player. Sony claims it will allow users to keep some of their songs even after the subscription has ended.

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“Several of the record-label companies are starting to offer their music free of DRM, so you can put it on your iPod or whatever device you would like,” Lawson said. He added, however, that Ruckus has focused on free music whereas most popular DRM-free tracks must be purchased. Major labels are not yet offering unencrypted music as part of subscription-based music services.

Ruckus is aware of the importance of portability to its users. “We do have a portability solution with devices that support Microsoft’s DRM,” Lawson said, referring to devices like the Microsoft Zune, which supports the DRM on Ruckus music. “The challenge is: How do you expand Ruckus to devices that are not compatible with Ruckus?” Lawson said, adding that there was no way for Ruckus to get the licensing to support the popular iPod models.

“We are looking at new features such as a streaming service, which would be cross-platform compatible,” Lawson said. He added that Ruckus is particularly interested in the possibilities that will come with the increasingly multimedia-featured mobile handsets available on the market. Such technology would allow users to stream or download music over their carrier’s wireless data network.

If the University were to add another option for students, such as Sony’s system, “the driving force of that would likely be the USG or Dean of Students or some other group,” University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said in an e-mail.

“These initiatives spring generally from student interest and student expression of their changing needs and preferences,” Cliatt said.

As of now, with Ruckus’ limitations, “[s]taff from the University’s Office of Information Technology who work with students continue to say that iTunes is the big winner,” Cliatt said.