An e-mail address ending in .edu is all you need to have access to free music. No more worrying about Binghamton University shutting down your Internet for illegally downloading the songs you love. Why? Because Ruckus Network is here to save the day ‘ and for free! Think it sounds too good to be true? You just might be right.

Realizing that our demographic finds actually paying for music a bit mundane, Ruckus has decided to provide a solution that its makers believe may curb habits of illegal downloading.

The service was originally only offered to students of the 100 universities Ruckus has contractual agreements with. Servers on those campuses allowed for faster downloading time, but in an effort to appeal to more students, the service is now being offered to any student at any university. Acknowledging that both faculty members and alumni may also use e-mail addresses ending in .edu, a fee of $8.95 per month is required for the use of the service if you are not a student. Some Binghamton University students don’t find this to be a big deal.

‘If as a freshman you get used to having the service, by the time you graduate you might want to continue using it,’ said Cassandra M., freshman pre-med major.

Supported by major record companies like EMI and Warner, as well as thousands of independent labels, students can download over 2,000,000 songs from this ad-supported Web site. Using Windows media technology, the service enables students to play back the songs on their personal computers. For the price of $4.99, you can buy the rights to transfer the songs onto portable devices like SanDisk and Creative, compatible with the Microsoft format.

If you’re beginning to wonder why you’re seeing so many fiscal figures when the service is supposed to be free, there are a few more stipulations to consider before getting too excited about it. If you are a Macintosh owner, the service will not work on your computer, which for some Binghamton University students, seems to be a turn-off.

‘I’m about to purchase a Mac and I think it’s a bit unfair that the service won’t apply to me and the millions of other college students who own one,’ said Raul Salcedo Jr., a senior cinema major.

And for those of you who live, sleep and breathe iPod, music from the service unfortunately won’t work for you either. Freshman Hilary Rosen sees this as problematic to Ruckus’ success.

‘[Most] college students would prefer to download their music onto their iPods over listening to it on their computers,’ she said. Burning the songs onto CDs is not an option either.

Understanding that their service offers as many restrictions as it does benefits, Ruckus Network execs have no choice but to leave the fate of the service in the hands of the very students they seek to please. Maybe the idea of being able to legally download music from top labels will be enough to convince students to give up their convenient means of downloading and throw Ruckus a bone.