“Downloading” and “legal” are two words rarely seen in the same sentence when it comes to music. Ohio State students can now experience the combination of these two terms first-hand, thanks to OSU’s recent partnership with Ruckus Network, Inc.

Ruckus is the provider of a multimedia network that supplies free and legal music downloads specifically for college students. The provider is partners with more than 150 universities nationwide, including Big Ten schools Penn State, Indiana University and Michigan State.

“We felt it was necessary to have some sort of alternative to downloading music illegally for students,” said Kate Christobek, president of OSU’s Undergraduate Student Government.

Christobek said OSU officially signed up with Ruckus a couple of weeks ago, but discussions between OSU and Ruckus had been going on since late summer.

“When OSU students got charged last year (for illegally downloading), it sent the message we needed to do something like this,” she said.

The catch to Ruckus is that songs downloaded from its library are unable to be burned to a CD or transported to a portable media device. However, Ruckus does offer a portable service that allows students to transfer unlimited music to a Windows compatible MP3 player for $20 per semester.

Valerie Shafer, director of Information Technology for Student Affairs, said the only weakness of Ruckus is that it does not work with iTunes, but “it’s free and legal, so there’s nothing to lose by going with it and trying it out.”

“I really enjoy it because it’s one of those ways to sample music,” Christobek said. “If you like it, it gives you the opportunity to then go out and buy it.”

Ruckus is the world’s only free, legal and ad-supported music downloading site for college students, said Chris Lawson, director of corporate development for Ruckus.

The service provides unlimited download access to an expanding library of more than 3 million songs. Downloads are 100 percent legal, free and virus-free.

“Many other music downloading sites provide illegal copies for free or require a pay-per-download fee (for legal songs),” Lawson said. All music featured in Ruckus’ library is licensed directly from the record labels, which means downloads are legal and free. Ruckus is able to pay these fees with the revenue they generate from advertising.

Although any college student around the country can sign up for Ruckus’ service with a valid e-mail address, OSU students benefit from an installed server on campus that allows students to download directly from Ruckus’ library instead of through the Internet.

This allows entire albums to download in only a few seconds as well as lower bandwidth consumption, which Lawson said saves the school money while keeping the Internet fast for all users.

“I really hope it catches on in the residence halls,” Christobek said. “This is a way for them to be protected because they’re not downloading illegally.”

“I think it’s a win-win situation,” Shafer said. “(Ruckus) gets exposure to 50,000 students, and its another choice for OSU students downloading music.”

OSU students using computers with PC platforms can begin using the service immediately by visiting Ruckus.com, clicking on “Join Ruckus” and entering an OSU e-mail address. For information, visit Ruckus’ Web site.

Mark Miller can be reached at [email protected].