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Vanderbilt University Circumvents RIAA
Plans for legal downloads on campus
Universities have been trying to figure out the best method of responding to RIAA attacks on their students, from banning all p2p use on campus to asking RIAA to reimburse university costs if they want settlement letters sent to students. Maybe Vanderbilt University has the right idea; working with a company to offer students on campus free, legal downloads of music and video. What will RIAA do then?
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

i see problems

Increase the prices to astronomical rates for the Uni, to bankrupt the Uni. Or students will still p2p since the free service wont have alot of the content/enough of the content students want, plus then there is pr0n and warez, moviez, and tv ripz?

Or is the plan to reduce p2p from a mainstream thing to a rare thing to lessen the chances of more students being caught?

snipper_cr
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Wheaton, IL

snipper_cr

Premium Member

DRM

Or the music/video will be so loaded down with DRM that it is useless and students will look for other ways of obtaining free music.

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84

Member

Buying a legit service doesn't work.

Look at purdue. They offered Rukus for free to all freshman for a few years and no one used it. The fact that most people have ipods automatically means if your free service isn't itunes, it absolutely has no chance. And due to no one using it, they cancelled the service. Most likely because it was probably ridiculously expensive and in the end the students owned nothing because it was a subscription service. Of course upon cancelling the service the RIAA decided to make an example out of them and bombard them with complaints. Even though students were not downloading illegal files any less while having the free service, the complaint count went from 40 a year to over a 1000 a year. This is why no school should ever attempt to offer a free service, because when you find out it's worthless and cancel it, the RIAA will attack.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Buying a legit service doesn't work.

said by insomniac84:

The fact that most people have ipods automatically means if your free service isn't itunes, it absolutely has no chance.
Well then the spoiled rich brats will just have to use another player. Oh, woe is them. Free music or keep their iPod and be thieves.

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

1 recommendation

insomniac84

Member

Re: Buying a legit service doesn't work.

Who is going to buy a new mp3 player to gain access to a free subscription service for a year? People aren't made of money and a lot of people like their ipods. So offering a service that doesn't work with the ipod makes the service unusable by most students.
Also, fyi, downloading music isn't theft it's copyright infringement. No one is a thief.

Basically any service that uses drm is pointless unless every mp3 player can support it. Since such drm doesn't exist, these subscription services are pointless and a waste of money.

Glaice
Brutal Video Vault
Premium Member
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY

Glaice

Premium Member

Re: Buying a legit service doesn't work.

Let's not forget the lack of variety when they think most students like the popular crap, wrong.

thender2
Glamour Profession
Premium Member
join:2004-05-16
Staten Island, NY

thender2 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:
said by insomniac84:

The fact that most people have ipods automatically means if your free service isn't itunes, it absolutely has no chance.
Well then the spoiled rich brats will just have to use another player. Oh, woe is them. Free music or keep their iPod and be thieves.
Why in God's name would I have to stop using the device I presently use and buy a new one with the same capabilities just to satisfy someone else's requirement for copy protection?
osrk7
join:2005-02-28
Sterling, CT

1 edit

osrk7 to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

said by insomniac84:

The fact that most people have ipods automatically means if your free service isn't itunes, it absolutely has no chance.
Well then the spoiled rich brats will just have to use another player. Oh, woe is them. Free music or keep their iPod and be thieves.
Wow the ignorance in that comment is astounding. Hey maybe you should think your comments through instead of just saying them.

What mp3 player is currently the most popular? Ipod....

If the files from Rukus didn't work on Windows would you say "Spoil rich kids need to use linux! Woe is them."

You know not everyone is spoiled, rich, and goes to college.

Mchart
First There.
join:2004-01-21
Kaneohe, HI

1 edit

Mchart to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

said by insomniac84:

The fact that most people have ipods automatically means if your free service isn't itunes, it absolutely has no chance.
Well then the spoiled rich brats will just have to use another player. Oh, woe is them. Free music or keep their iPod and be thieves.
Not every college student has mommy and daddy paying for their education.

Paulg
Displaced Yooper
Premium Member
join:2004-03-15
Neenah, WI

Paulg to insomniac84

Premium Member

to insomniac84
Same thing happened here at Michigan Tech. Ruckus was offered free to all on campus students first, then to all students, and it was a nice luxury for a few months, till the licenses stopped renewing, and the selection of music ran dry.

Now its practically dead.

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

David

Premium Member

Well

I guess if they close the network ports to the outside world they could as least contain the problem internally.

Besides if the network is a private network, the RIAA really has no grounds at this point because the sharing is internally, not externally. So in order to get any free files off that network you would have to be a student (or faculty member) of that university.

It would be the same thing I am doing with my own p2p network. It's a private network, no outside influence at all.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: Well

What was i2hub then? RIAA infiltrated that. Uni p2p still can work if they block incoming (most Unis do). To truly block p2p they would need to filter outgoing ports to just port 80, so it becomes almost impossible to connect to anything other than a website
yabos
join:2003-02-16
London, ON

yabos

Member

Re: Well

I2Hub worked between universities hooked into Internet2, which the RIAA and MPAA just happen to be members of.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

2 edits

FFH5

Premium Member

Ruckus.com & Napster have done University deals

Many Universities and colleges have signed deals with Ruckus.com and Napster to provide free music to registered students.
»Ruckus.com & Napster

»www.ruckusnetwork.com/
»news.zdnet.com/2100-9588 ··· 173.html

»www.napster.com/napster_ ··· pus.html
Note that Vanderbilt has done their deal with Napster.»www.napster.com/napster_ ··· pus.html
IHateFirefox
join:2005-05-23
35604

IHateFirefox

Member

;

quote:
What will RIAA do then?
Oh, I don't know, maybe profit from the royalties?
Expand your moderator at work

Derspankster
Premium Member
join:2003-02-12
Marion, OH

Derspankster

Premium Member

The RIAA Will NEVER Win

The day is coming when this whole mess will come to a head and the RIAA will not win. They have become one, if not the, most hated organization in this country. The continue to shoot themselves in the foot by bringing one horrendous PR nightmare after another on themselves. The RIAA is dead already, they just don't have the sense to lay down.

I don't know how it will all pan out but it's over for the RIAA, the people have spoken. Eventually, the government and the legislature will respond. I do believe that artists should be compensated for their work. It isn't the artists that are making all the fuss as we all know. It's the fat cat hanger-ons that have been taking all the money from the artists since day one. This guys are about as popular as a heart attack and their stock only continues to dive into the shitter. They're on the verge of becoming irrelevant. Perhaps good music will someday be delivered to the audience without the RIAA's greedy intercession and Gestapo tactics. Let's hope.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: The RIAA Will NEVER Win

said by Derspankster:

This guys are about as popular as a heart attack and their stock only continues to dive into the shitter. They're on the verge of becoming irrelevant.
The RIAA is not a company, it is an association of companies that does lobbying and other services. You knew that right?? And the stock for the majority of companies that are members of the RIAA are doing just fine.

Major RIAA members:
»www.riaa.com/about/leade ··· oard.asp
All members:
»www.riaa.com/about/membe ··· ault.asp

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84

Member

Re: The RIAA Will NEVER Win

After looking at that list, it is clear. Sony is the worst company in the world.

Derspankster
Premium Member
join:2003-02-12
Marion, OH

Derspankster to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:
said by Derspankster:

This guys are about as popular as a heart attack and their stock only continues to dive into the shitter. They're on the verge of becoming irrelevant.
The RIAA is not a company, it is an association of companies that does lobbying and other services. You knew that right?? And the stock for the majority of companies that are members of the RIAA are doing just fine.

Major RIAA members:
»www.riaa.com/about/leade ··· oard.asp
All members:
»www.riaa.com/about/membe ··· ault.asp
Yes, I know it's an org, not a company. And, by stock I meant public image not any one companies stock value.

shimonmor
Premium Member
join:2000-12-30
Sedro Woolley, WA

shimonmor to Derspankster

Premium Member

to Derspankster
said by Derspankster:

They have become one, if not the, most hated organization in this country.
I bet 9 out of 10 people never heard of the RIAA or don't care. You and I may not like them but the vast majority couldn't give a darn.
d0nni3q
join:2006-11-05
Meadville, PA

d0nni3q

Member

Been There, Done That

The Pennsylvania State University has already done this and it works just fine.

»napster.psu.edu
vandystud
join:2007-06-04
San Jose, CA

vandystud

Member

Re: Been There, Done That

As an incoming student at Vanderbilt University, I think this is an awesome deal. I mean $2 a month (or $16 an academic year) is a great deal to listen to all the music that Napster has to offer. It does have limitations, though. The Napster deals only allows students to have "tethered" downloads, meaning that they can be saved onto a computer and are essentially being rented for as long as the service is renewed.

If you want to put songs onto a CD or an MP3 player (iPod) you have to BUY the tracks individually as you would from iTunes. But in the least it lets people listen to full tracks and from there one has the opportunity to go out and buy the song or album if one really likes a song or album.

For me, it's a great deal. I can legally listen to my Mozart, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and whoever else I want. It's cool that I have guaranteed music available on Napster and that I won't have to search on a P2P and risk getting a virus (extreme example, but plausible).

It's not some miraculous deal, but for what it's worth it's pretty good. Vandy has awesome deals, and they ought to for the $50,000 a year price tag it costs to attend.
Time4aNAP
Premium Member
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL

Time4aNAP

Premium Member

When Will They Learn?

I never cease to be amazed at how institutes of Higher Learning, which ought to have some of the better minds available, are behaving like primitive peoples in making sacrifices to "the gods", hoping to garner favorable treatment. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to understand that nothing short of a contract will exempt you from the US Copyright Office rules. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any RIAA lawyers banging on doors, pen in hand and ready to sign. What dime store genius assumed that the RIAA has any desire to make a deal?

We're talking about an industry that is bloated with people who are under the impression that a business degree and a $1000 suit entitles them to an obscenely large slice of a pie that wouldn't even exist without the artists. We're talking about people who are so blinded by greed, that they dare to starve their cash cow at a time when technology has made direct marketing more viable than ever. Frankly, I'd rather try my luck trying to reason with a crazed lunatic who's high on PCP.

And since when is banning technology a Good Thing? Hello!!! Remember the Dark Ages? Did the US postal Service shut down because of Anthrax? No. So why ban a fundamental part of computer networking for a far less important threat?

As it stands, the RIAA is entitled by law to ruin promising young lives in the name of profit. As villainous as it is, I support this important right on principle. However they are not entitled to use other businesses as their unpaid agents. Is Vanderbilt a process server or a university? If it's the latter, then they should forward these letters to outside lawyers for advice. Then they should bill the RIAA for those legal fees. When the RIAA balks, every US college and university can join in a class action suit against the RIAA. And since it appears that the RIAA is attempting to coerce these universities into circumventing the law, criminal complaints are in order.

As it stands, the title needs revision. Vanderbilt has circumvented nothing. In fact they are dangerously close to becoming an accomplice of the RIAA. If you want to avoid going to hell, the last thing that you want to do is make deals with the devil.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

Re: When Will They Learn?

They're not making a deal with the RIAA. They're making a deal with a music company that will get revenue from the school/students in one way or another.
Time4aNAP
Premium Member
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL

Time4aNAP

Premium Member

Re: When Will They Learn?

said by CMoore2004:

They're not making a deal with the RIAA. They're making a deal with a music company that will get revenue from the school/students in one way or another.
That's right, they're not making a deal with the RIAA that would exempt them from the CRB-determined royalty fees. So they're not circumventing the RIAA at all. They are simply adding a 3rd party, with its own fees, to the mix.

OTOH, if they accept a single cent for being the RIAA's process server, especially if it involves divulging student information without a search warrant, then they are making another sort of deal with the RIAA. One with potentially dangerous consequences.
osrk7
join:2005-02-28
Sterling, CT

osrk7

Member

Moderated....

What the hell I get moderated for calling someone a moron but the person gets away with calling an entire group of people "spoiled brats"

way to go DSLreports, it's good to know that you have common sense.