OK, so Ruckus is not that great. In fact, i2hub is better in nearly every way except that you are likely to be sued just for thinking about using it. Ruckus is still, however, a good alternative to the other options that most users will not be disappointed in.

First and foremost, their library of 1.5 million songs is quite comprehensive, and is organized into an easy-to-navigate sidebar by genre, subgenre, artist, and album. Their offerings range widely, from Metal to Celtic, and their contents are comprehensive. While lacking notable bands such as Metallica, they do offer less-popular artists like Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and jazz musician Maynard Ferguson. These offerings are, for the most part, comparable to other music services. Obscure classical-metal band Stratovarius, for example, has one album listed on Ruckus while Rhapsody offers two. Rest assured, nearly every mainstream artist an average college student would want will be found in their library.

Of course, the most important part of any music service, more so than the offerings, is the download speed. This varies greatly. I was able to download a dozen or so songs at about 10 seconds per track; then, when I tried to download an entire Def Leppard album it took over half an hour—and this was when I was one of a handful of users. These download times are similar to i2hub and Rhapsody and much better than any of the gnutella options out there. One major suggestion I would make is to not depend on the service when connected using wireless; it will sorely disappoint you.

One nice part about Ruckus is that on each artist’s page there are links to the genre as well as similar artists, making it easy to find new bands that you would like. There is also a list of “Most Played” on both the artist and genre pages, so you can easily locate new songs by your favorite artists.

This brings up one of the disappointing aspects of Ruckus: The search and download capabilities are entirely web-based. Everything must be done by logging onto http://www.ruckus.com/, which can be a hassle, especially when at times it seems that the server is connected with a dial-up modem (remember, again, I was one of the few users on campus).

Another hassle of the program is the Digital Rights Management, which is to be expected with a service like this. I did attempt to burn a few tracks to CD, and my computer did not appreciate it. I also tried the legitimate WMA to mp3 converters I could find to see if they could kill the DRM on the tracks, but each of the three I tried told me that the songs were protected and could not be converted. I did not try the less-than-legitimate converters for fear of giving my computer the avian flu or something. For those looking to be able to burn their downloads to CD or send them to a portable device, “Ruckus to Go” is available for $19.95 per semester.

One quirk of Ruckus that needs to be mentioned is that any of the downloaded songs can be played in any program that supports WMA files, but the Ruckus player needs to be opened at least once every 30 days to renew the licenses, or the files will not open. Since I have not had the service for over a month yet, I can not evaluate how annoying this is, but it does not seem like it will be.

Another add-on for Ruckus that is available is movie downloads for another $19.95 per semester. This is money better left in your bank account. While the quality of the movies is amazing, the quality of the selection is terrible. The “Action” category on the movies web page, for example, lists nine movies, and the newest movie I could find was from 2001. While this list rotates between 4,000 titles, at any given time the list is obviously lacking. Download speeds are interminable, but Ruckus expects these to improve as the server’s connection is upgraded to gigabit. In addition, the DRM on the movie files deletes them after mere days. If you absolutely have to download movies, stick with the alternatives.