The RHA supported the university’s effort to implement a pilot program next semester giving up to 10,000 on-campus residents access to a free, legal music subscription service, possibly through Napster, iTunes or Rhapsody.
The Residential Facilities Advisory Board agreed to work with the Office of Information Technology and the student task force on peer-to-peer file sharing to determine if the corporately-funded pilot program should be permanent in a resolution approved at last night’s Residence Halls Association meeting.
“This is incredible,” said Zach Danner, RHA finance officer. “This is great for a pilot program, especially because it’s free.”
The university still has to decide how many students can participate in the pilot, which depends on the service it picks. A private corporation has expressed interest in funding the project for 10,000 campus residents, according to a Resident Facilities project proposal. There are about 10,800 on-campus students, including South Campus Commons and University Courtyards residents.
OIT officials sent proposals to vendors and expect to select one by the end of January. They are looking for the most cost-efficient vendor that fulfills the university’s specifications. Possible vendors include Cdigix, Music Rebellion and Ruckus. OIT spokeswoman Amy Ginther said the office will seek student input during winter break through focus groups or electronic surveys.
Final selection of the vendor will not go back to the RHA Assembly, but will be decided by ReFAB and OIT, possibly via e-mail, ReFAB chairman Ayo Otukoya said.
But the students selected for the pilot shouldn’t expect free file sharing by the start of next semester, Ginther said. The pilot will most likely begin in February, but Ginther could not give an exact date. She added it would be in enough time for a thorough test and review in April.
One reason for a university-supported file-sharing service is to protect students from the legal ramifications for using an illegal service such as Direct Connect, said RHA Vice President Kareem Branch, who is also on the P2P File Sharing Task Force. The Recording Industry Association of America has sued students using illegal file-sharing services through university Internet providers.
But not everyone in RHA thought students would want a university file-sharing service, especially if fees could be increased to cover future costs.
“Not all students would want to have a university-sponsored file-sharing program because as far as I’m concerned, everyone’s happy with DC plus plus,” said Teddy Tien, an Ellicott community advocate.
Branch said vendors should consider incentives for students to join the service, citing how Duke University distributed free iPods to incoming freshmen.
“This is the absolute best way to gauge the students’ interests and see if it’s going to work,” Otukoya said.
