Pilot program sees snags

More than a quarter of students living in on-campus housing are taking advantage of the new file-sharing pilot program that became available last Wednesday.

But while the numbers indicate that the pilot is popular, some students said they are having problems gaining access to their programs of choice.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Digital Music Program offers students a choice of four legal downloading programs: Cdigix, Napster, Rhapsody and Ruckus Network.

As of Tuesday, 1,789 UNC-CH students had made their choices. So far, 133 students are using Cdigix, 820 selected Napster, 305 chose Rhapsody and 531 picked Ruckus, said Jeanne Smythe, director for computing policy at UNC-CH.

“I think the numbers are pretty good,” she said. “Rhapsody has had some registration problems, but I understand those have been fixed.”

Student Body President Matt Calabria acknowledged that the program, while going well, is still in its infancy.

“I’ve heard mixed responses so far,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with what seems to be working out a lot of bugs, but that’s really to be expected at this stage in the game.”

Tre Jones, Calabria’s chief of staff, said the problems are mainly affecting students setting up their accounts.

“It seems to be that they’re signing up with a promotional code that doesn’t work or isn’t working in a timely fashion,” he said. “It’s not so much problems with the software.”

Freshman Melissa Perryman said she signed up with Ruckus on Saturday and has been enjoying the program ever since.

Her friend Julie Barrett, also a freshman, also signed up for Ruckus. But she said she’s facing some technical difficulties with her password that rendered her program temporarily useless.

Biff Mann, a UNC-CH freshman, said that when he registered to use Rhapsody, he was told that he’d be sent an e-mail with information on how to get started. “I was never sent an e-mail, and it’s going on two weeks now,” he said.

Officials said students having trouble with their programs should seek advice from ResNet.

The pilot program is being funded by a grant from a private donor who wishes to remain anonymous, said Tom Warner, director of coordinated technology management for the UNC-system Office of the President.

“They would like to keep the focus on what we’re trying to do to expose students to legitimate downloading options,” Warner said.

Calabria noted that without the involvement of the Office of the President, the pilot program would be much different than it is today.

“We would’ve only been able to provide it to a much smaller group than we are, and students probably would’ve had to foot the bill to a certain degree,” he said.

“I think they saw benefits to controlling the program, which is in part why they took it up.”

Calabria said he thinks the program is a success.

“We’ve been making as much or more progress than we ever expected to make at this point,” he said.

“Especially since students are getting the services for free, at least for the semester, and they’re getting their choice of the services. We’re very happy about that.”

Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.