In an effort to thwart illegal downloading by students and provide better entertainment choices, ASU has partnered with Ruckus Network to provide a subscription-based filesharing service.
Ruckus is a music and movie filesharing service geared exclusively to college students.
Unlike Napster, which allows members to share files with other members nationwide for a fee, Ruckus members are only able to share files with other ASU students.
Josh Weiner, director of communications for Ruckus, said he thinks that is exactly what students want.
"The good thing about Ruckus is that students are able to see what their peers are listening to," he said.
Subscribers pay $19.95 per semester for over one million tracks of music, $19.95 per semester for movies or $34.95 for both music and movies. The SunCard is the only method of payment available.
The movie selection is rotated on a daily basis and includes a large supply of college-oriented movies, Weiner said.
Movies can only be downloaded while on campus, but music can be accessed by any student anywhere with a SunCard and kept indefinitely.
Chief Information Officer William Lewis said administrators had been contemplating options for subscription-based services to provide entertainment options to ASU students.
"We were looking for something a little bit better than iTunes," he said.
While iTunes offers a variety of music files it doesn't provide students a way to download movies, Lewis said.
The subscription service should also discourage students from illegally downloading music and movies, Lewis said.
Another selling point was the price. ASU was not required to invest any outside money in Ruckus, only time to agree on terms for the service.
Ruckus, based in Herndon, Va., was launched last year by two MIT graduate students. Billing itself as the "premier digital entertainment service for universities," it has been launched on eight college campuses nationwide and will be on more than 20 by the end of September.
Lewis said Ruckus handled all of the logistics, from integrating the SunCard as the payment method to putting servers on campus.
Ruckus doesn't require a minimum number of participates and does not have an exclusive agreement with ASU, allowing the school the option to offer other file sharing services. Students may also use other services not provided by the school.
Computer systems engineering freshman Edward Mertens said he would use the service.
"I've used Napster before, but [Ruckus] sounds easier," said Mertens. "It's good that they are trying to promote legal downloads."
Other students were more skeptical.
"It could be nice," said interior design freshman Stephanie Grosam. "But it sounds a lot like other services."
Grosam said she'll probably sign up for the 14-day free trial that Ruckus offers students on their Web site, www.ruckus.com.
Reach the reporter at Kristi.Eaton@asu.edu.
