Throughout any given residence hall, one can hear the beat of MP3 files playing from the room of a Radford student. Popularity of MP3s is enormous in the college setting, where high-speed Internet access is readily available, and students (being huge music media consumers) are abundant. One new method of obtaining MP3 files is the Napster program, which searches the globe for any song you could imagine. It isn't difficult to realize that with 9,000 students on Radford's network, traffic can get overwhelming. And that is why, on February 7 of this year, Napster was killed by RU.

The strain Napster puts on a network is considerable. It adds to the cost of maintaining the network and severely effects the transfer time for other tasks like email, and web surfing. Couple this with legal and security issues and it is easy to see why many organizations have taken steps to block Napster from running in their network.

Radford University is one such organization. As of February 7, 2000 Napster no longer works for users of Radford University Internet pool, no matter what your connection; in the labs, dial-up, or cable modem. The decision was based on all of the reasons previously stated.

In monitoring Napster usage at Radford University, in a three-hour period, around 150 people had Napster uploads in progress. Considering the average size of an MP3 file is around 5 megabytes, that's 750 megabytes transferred in just three hours. If it remained constant through the day, that's around six gigabytes a day just in uploads. Six gigabytes is bigger then many peoples' hard drives. Keeping in mind that the six gigabytes is only people getting files from Radford University people; the stress on the network is tremendous. And in this case, as students at Radford University, it is our tuition money that is paying for the maintenance of the campus network.

So what does this mean for the average student? Not a whole lot. There are many other ways to download MP3 files that are less taxing on the campus system. All this really means is that the users of Radford's Internet pool are now forced to shape up...or at least find another method of distributing copyrighted materials.

Read more:
[ You Too Can Commit a Felony ] [ How Napster Nabs ]

Name: Brian :)
Year: Sr.
Major: Advertising
Comments:
I knew from the moment I downloaded Napster that I wouldn't be allowed to use it. I mean... I know what the rules are, and I know which ones I try to follow, but come on- a program that gives access to your hard drvie to everyone in the world? That's a network KILLER. I knew it wouldn't fly, and uninstalled it after I fiigured this out. A week later, it was shut down here at RU. That either makes me a genius or our network admin one too. Nice job Ed! :)

Name: jeff, former napster user
Comments:
First, let me just say that Napster is the best mp3 search engine in the world. Second, how is it that I only downloaded songs from Radford students? When Napster worked, there were roughly 3,000 libraries (a library is an individual user's collection of mp3 files) and over 300,000 songs. How could 1/3 of RU known about Napster? You would be surprised; a lot of my friends here had never heard of it before all of this huh-bub came about. Otherwise, great article. Our First Whim Special Feature :)! I hope you get more feedback, Mike, than my First Whim Epic did.

Comments:
YOUR access to the web is being "regulated" by a university YOU fund. They have become an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that can edit and prohibit content. Not just by dead but by actual internal decision. If they chose to be an ISP they are competing with several PRIVATE buisness in this area. This is state supported buisness competing with PRIVATE small business. Radford University has a habit of stealing buisness from legitamate small buisness. This is illegal. If you think this is wrong..SPEAK UP. -A person with no bias or gain from speaking the truth. Read this article at wired about the Napster http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,34382,00.html?tw=wn20000217