Georgia Southern University Offers Free, Legal Music Downloads for Students

May 21, 2008

As more colleges and universities work to prevent illegal music downloading on student computers, Georgia Southern University is partnering with Ruckus Network, Inc. to offer students a free and legal way of downloading unlimited music. The service is available to Georgia Southern undergraduate and graduate students at no cost to the University or users of the program.

The new service, available through www.Ruckus.com, provides students with access to more than three million songs of all varieties.

‘The decision to offer the service is based on continuing student requests to offer a free music file sharing service,” said Georj Lewis, dean of students at Georgia Southern University. ‘We are very excited to make this safe and legal alternative music service available to students at Georgia Southern University.”

Ruckus allows users to legally download and share their music, create multiple playlists, recommend music to friends and peruse their peers’ media libraries.

To ensure the legality of the program, Ruckus is licensed through major international record labels and many independent labels and musicians. Also, downloaded music files are unable to be freely transferred to mp3 players or burned onto CDs.

‘This service offers students a safe, free alternative to illegal file sharing software they may be tempted to download from the Internet,” said Lee Davis, Georgia Southern University’s chief attorney. ‘The recording industry has stepped up its copyright enforcement efforts, and Ruckus provides access to the same music without the legal risks.”

Ruckus has already had success after being made available to almost 200 colleges and universities across the nation. Among those participating in the program are Duke University, Clemson, North Carolina State and Princeton University.

To begin using Ruckus, Georgia Southern students must first create an account at www.Ruckus.com, and using their Georgia Southern email address.

A list of alternative legal download sites is available at: www.georgiasouthern.edu/musicdownloads.

Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University, offers more than 120 degree programs serving nearly 17,000 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. The University, one of Georgia’s largest, is a top choice of Georgia’s HOPE scholars and is recognized for its student-centered approach to education. Visit: www.georgiasouthern.edu .