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Students download music illegaly, what else is new?

A few years back, when I wrote my “The price of downloading” story, I learned very quickly that most students were pretty much unwilling to pay to download music.

In attempting to find one single student who actually ponied up the money for music, I talked to more than 100 students who said they didn’t — the majority went so far as to say they wouldn’t.

So yesterday, when I was asked to essentially repeat some of the reporting I did on that story on a new crop of students at a different university, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found mostly the same, only this time, kids weren’t so willing to give their name for publication. But they were still quick to admit, “Yeah, I do it. Doesn’t everybody?”

And, it only took me until the fourth student, to find someone who paid. One out of four is significantly better odds than one out of 100 as I found in the past. Granted, both situations were highly unscientific and can’t really be generalized to the entire student population. But having been a student, living with students and hanging out with students for the past four years let me tell you, the only news in the RIAA’s announcement about increased complaints to universities yesterday was the list of schools.

And guess what? West Lafayette’s pride, Purdue University, was second on the list. And my alma mater, Kent State, was 17th.

What’s interesting is the very different responses the universities gave.

Purdue seemed almost flippant. “We are a leading technology school with thousands and thousands of curious and talented technology students,” their spokesman said.

Kent State seemed apologetic. Their response was, “This is one of the biggest thorns in our side.”

It’s worth mentioning, if only because of the OU/KSU semi-rivalry (the j-schools and Halloween celebrations being the items of rivalry that come to mind), that Ohio University ranked number one in the nation for schools with complaints filed against students. What was it all the Dems were saying during the midterm campaign last year? “Ohio is number one in too many of the wrong things.” Well, hehe, this is one title Ohio University can totally have.

One Response to “Students download music illegaly, what else is new?”

  1. University Update Says:

    Students download music illegaly, what else is new?