Ruckus

Ruckus was a music downloading. The SGA negotiated a contract with Ruckus which allows UMass students to legally download music and movies for free. By registering with a UMass e-mail address, students can access music and movies at www.ruckus.com. The website no longer exists.

[edit] Free music service

Ruckus offers a library of over 1.5 million songs and 4,000 movies for students to access free of charge and without the possibility of virus infection. There are currently about 40 colleges and universities that use Ruckus.

Ruckus was brought to campus by the SGA, which was searching for a legal program as an option to combat illegal downloads. With several programs to consider, the SGA ultimately chose Ruckus because it had the best reviews and software.

[edit] Limitations

The program only supports computers running Microsoft Windows. All content is protected with DRM. Music files carry individual licenses that must be updated every thirty days or the files will become unplayable. Also, the free service does not allow for files to be copied or burned to CD. Students wishing to use media downloaded from Ruckus on their mp3 players will have to pay a fee of $19.95 per semester to transfer songs to portable devices.

[edit] Removing restrictions

Note to searchers: this section may be out of date. Previous edit to this article was September 13, 2006.

FairUse4WM can strip restrictions off files downloaded from Ruckus, allowing the files to be copied, burned or used on portable players. (Unless the user has ever updated windows media player to version 11 or above)

[edit] Feedback to the SGA

Student feedback about Ruckus is a major factor in continuing an agreement with the program next year, or searching for an alternative. Students wishing to give feedback can comment directly to the SGA by e-mail: sga.speaker@stuaf.umass.edu

[edit] Alternative services

• Pandora - 100% free Internet radio which includes indie artists
• OurStage.com - Participate in selecting the best new independent music ($5000 grand prizes for artists every month) and buy DRM-free tracks
• Amazon MP3 store - Legal, DRM-free downloads of small and major-label music for as little as 89 cents