Future of pilot music program still unclear

When former Student Body President Matt Calabria set out to bring legal music downloading to UNC students, he knew it would be a long-term process.

“We started this year just trying to set the ball in motion at UNC,” Calabria said. “This is a major project and definitely takes time to develop.

“If we want this program to continue, it’s going to take some effort on the part of UNC administrators and students.”

But as the pilot music downloading program reaches its end this semester, its exact future is unclear, officials said.

During the last four months, UNC-CH students have been able to test one of four legal downloading programs: Cdigix, Napster, Rhapsody and Ruckus Network.

UNC has yet to decide which, if any, of these programs it will provide for students.

Now, Student Body President Seth Dearmin said he will pick up where Calabria left off.

Dearmin said the biggest challenge is getting student feedback.

“Once we have the data on students’ opinions, we’ll be able to move forward,” he said.

He said he likely will use several strategies to collect student feedback, including e-mail, online surveys and Pit sits.

The UNC-system Office of the President made the initial arrangements for the pilot program at UNC-Chapel Hill, which mirrors the program at N.C. State University.

Three other system schools have pilot downloading programs, but with fewer providers.

But now it is up to individual universities to decide how to handle the situation. The Office of the President will serve to facilitate and coordinate programs after university officials make their decisions.

If they decide to move forward, officials must choose between two payment options — a site license or “opt-in, opt-out.”

A site license would allow all students to use the downloading service. It would be the easiest to manage but likely would result in a new student fee.

The opt-in, opt-out option would allow students to choose whether to pay to use the program.

Dearmin said he would prefer that option if a majority of students are not interested in the program.

“There’s no reason for (students) to pay a student fee if they’re not getting benefits from the student fee,” he said, noting that he would favor a site license if there is overwhelming student support.

Not everyone is worried about the negative effects associated with opt-in, opt-out.

Tom Warner, director of coordinated technology management for the UNC-system, said that as long as billing happens directly between a company and students, there should not be a problem.

“When the school gets into the stream of billing, then you have a logistical nightmare,” he said.

The need for a widespread legal music downloading program was highlighted recently when the Recording Industry Association of America lodged a $3 million lawsuit against a Duke junior for illegal file-sharing.

Recording industry officials have said they intend to sue hundreds of college students who illegally download music on Internet2.

Jeanne Smythe, director for computing policy, said that no matter the outcome of the pilot, she’s been pleased with the process.

“It certainly was well-received, and we learned a lot from it, too.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.