UW-Eau Claire will soon join dozens of other colleges around the country by providing legal downloading services to students. Companies such as Sony BMG and the Recording Industry Association of America-approved Cdigix are appealing to college campuses in particular because universities are getting fed up with piracy lawsuits against students, virus outbreaks and congestion on school computer networks, according to an Associated Press article.

Eau Claire’s Student Senate approved participation in the Cdigix program earlier this year. The company, part of Sea Blue Media LLC, will start offering students the choice to sign up for the service, which will allow unlimited music downloads for $3.95 per month, this fall. Movies and television shows are not included in the Cdigix program, and downloaded material expires if the computer is not connected to a company server for 30 days.

While it is good that students will have the option of whether or not to buy into the downloading service, it is The Spectator’s opinion that few students will opt to pay a monthly rate for something they could, otherwise, get for no cost. Therefore, the program itself is useless on our campus. While repercussions for illegal, free downloading do exist, few students think these will affect them.

Additionally, corporate-owned downloading services have a company-approved library. Free downloading has allowed many grassroots labels to gain wide-spread notoriety. Bands on independent labels, therefore, will suffer from corporate downloading programs.

Rather than push downloading services that charge fees, the music industry should accept the fact that technology has changed the way people receive entertainment. Instead of fighting a losing battle against illegal downloading, the industry should look to other sources, such as tours, to make up for lost revenue.