Thousands of Penn State students tune in to Napster

Launch of revolutionary music service goes smoothly

University Park, Pa. -- The much-anticipated launch of Napster at Penn State has arrived.

The launch coincides with the return of Penn State students to campus locations around the commonwealth for the start of the 2004 spring semester. As of 9 a.m. Monday (Jan. 12) -- mere hours into the spring semester -- more than 2,600 of the approximately 17,000 on-campus resident students eligible to use Napster this semester had successfully registered for the service.

The University and online music service provider quietly turned on the system over the weekend to allow on-campus residence hall students at Penn State -- at no additional cost to them -- to register and access more than half a million digital quality songs, streaming digital music stations and other Napster premium features. This trial service is the first one of its kind anywhere.

The registration process linking Penn State's and Napster's computer system has worked flawlessly for the vast majority of students who used it. Only a few students faced difficulty with the registration due to a new authorization protocol. Given the scope and technical complexity associated with the launch of this trial service, Penn State's Information Technology Services staff expect to work through these problems quickly.

Some other facts about the Napster launch, which are changing by the minute:

-- Since Friday's launch, there have been 8,255 visits to the Web page set up for Penn State students to access Napster: http://napster.psu.edu

-- On Monday at 3 p.m. there were about 100,000 downloads or stream requests. That number is expected to increase exponentially as more students register for the service and grow accustomed to using it.

Feedback will be gathered from student users of the Napster throughout the spring semester, and will guide the University and Napster in making any necessary enhancements to the service prior to launching it to all 83,000 Penn State students this fall.

For more on Napster at Penn State, go to http://live.psu.edu/story/4584

For pictures, check http://live.psu.edu/still_life/2004_01_12_napster/index.html

For audio clips of Penn State President Graham B. Spanier's press conference, check http://live.psu.edu/still_life/2004_01_12_napster/audio.html