Penn State launches Napster music service
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STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The launch of Napster's online music service for Penn State students generated about 100,000 downloads or streaming-audio requests Monday, three days after its debut, school officials said.
A first in higher education, the service is designed to curb students' use of illegal music sharing and piracy. Peer-to-peer file sharing sites have generated lawsuits against users filed on behalf of recording artists.
As spring semester classes got under way Monday at Penn State, more than 2,600 students had registered for the Napster 2.0 service, which comes free with their tuition. All 17,000 on-campus resident students are eligible to use it.
School officials said the new system, which offers about 500,000 songs to choose from, appeared to work flawlessly for the vast majority of users.
By Monday, more than 8,000 visits were logged on the Napster Web site devoted for use by Penn State students. For a fee, students also can burn music onto compact discs.
The school plans to offer the service to all of its 83,000 students this fall. Faculty, staff and alumni will qualify for reduced-price Napster memberships.
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