After several possible start dates for a campus-wide trial of Ruckus were pushed back, the wait is over. According to John Fisher, the Institute’s chief network architect, RPI finalized the paperwork with Ruckus Network, Inc. on Monday and the service will begin allowing RPI students to register at 12 pm today. The service, however, began accepting signups yesterday as well—prior to 3 pm. By 3 am Wednesday morning, over 450 people had already registered for accounts.
The contract allows for 3,000 RPI students to have access to Ruckus’s music library through next May. The cost of this service through May will be paid for by the not-for-profit Campus Action Network that has helped several schools start up and try legal music and movie file sharing programs.
The 3,000 students who will be able to register for accounts will be the first 3,000 to sign up. While an earlier plan called for access to only those students who lived on campus, the current contract would allow any student who signs up on campus to register.
In order to sign up for an account, go to http://www.ruckus.com/, click on “Join Ruckus Now” under the “New User” heading, and fill out the form that comes up. Those who attempt to register after 3,000 users sign up will be placed on a waiting list until an account becomes available. Senior Account Manager Claire Brunton explained in an e-mail, “Towards the end of December, all of the 3,000 registered students will be sent an email explaining that if they have not been active on their account within one week prior to the start of the Spring semester—their accounts will be terminated and students on the wait list will be entitled to register for the service. This was the way in which the administration at RPI requested that the contract be written.”
The music catalogue—which grows fairly regularly and has around 1.5 million songs—allows a user to download unlimited songs to their computer. The music files use Microsoft Digital Rights Management and require a user to renew the license to play them every 30 days—which can be done through the Ruckus Player software, as long as the user has a valid subscription.
Once a license is granted or renewed for a song, it can be played while the listener is not on the network for 30 days on the computer on which it was downloaded and within other software media players as well.
Chief Information Officer John Kolb said that the initiative to bring Ruckus to campus was student-led and pointed out, “This is an experiment.” He explained that the purpose of the trial through May is to see if this is something that students want and suggested that people thoroughly try it out.
Ruckus has many add-on services as well. One add-on called “Ruckus to Go” allows unlimited downloads to any mp3 player for $19.95 for each full semester—or $11.95 for the remainder of the fall semester according to Brunton. Songs can also be purchased individually to be put on an mp3 player or burned, generally for under $1, through an agreement with another service.
These options will not work, however, for Apple iPods as they do not have a subscription-based DRM model. According to Brunton, Apple users have the option of using emusic instead of the Ruckus music library. She explained that this library has around 600,000 tracks, but instead of a student having unlimited downloads, the student can only download 15 tracks per month.
In addition to the music offerings, Ruckus has a movie catalog as well as some television show episodes. There are currently around 4,000 titles in the movie and television catalog, and Brunton said that around 100 are viewable at a given time as these rotate in and out. The movie subscription also costs $19.95 per semester, or $11.95 for the remainder of the fall. There is a 14-day free trial of the movie service.
According to Grand Marshal Max Yates ’06, “The Senate has worked very hard to bring Ruckus to the student body, particularly our Technology Affairs Committee, which we just established this year.” He continued, “This is a step in the right direction,” saying that Ruckus is part of a new “student life paradigm,” as cable television and internet are no longer enough.
Faculty and staff are not eligible for the 3,000 licenses covered under the contract. Those wishing to subscribe to Ruckus would pay $6.95 monthly for an account.
