Princeton University announced this week that it has signed a deal with Ruckus, the legal downloading service, to let students play music (though not to burn it to CD or put it on an MP3 player) for free. And the new downloading service has already gotten a nice publicity push from Mike Bebel, Ruckus's chief executive.
In a column written for The Daily Princetonian, Mr. Bebel suggests that legal downloading tools may eventually soften the recording industry's aggressive campaign of antipiracy lawsuits. "One may question the logic and effectiveness of suing the very people who ultimately may be the music industry's best customers," he writes. "There has to be a better way to legally share and distribute digital content."
Enter Ruckus, of course, which "changes the landscape in a very significant and very positive manner," according to Mr. Bebel. –Brock Read
