(U-WIRE) DURHAM, N.C. — Pennsylvania State University does not want its students to get arrested.

That is one of the motivations behind Penn State's recently-announced plans to provide the music-downloading service Napster to its students, 18,000 of which will get this service at the start of the spring semester.

Penn State sees such a policy as contributing to a greater campaign against illegal music downloading.

"Music piracy has found a breeding ground on college and university campuses due to the high speed computer networks that we all operate," said Penn State spokesperson Tyson Kendig.

Penn State President Graham Spanier, also co-chair of the Joint Committee of Higher Education and Entertainment, has made illegal music downloading a university priority and initiated what many higher education and music industry professionals see as a model for other universities.

"I don't think there's any question that this is a first step," said Napster spokesperson Seth Oster. "The deal with Penn State represents a major stride forward in the battle against music piracy."

Penn State's initiative also publicizes a long-anticipated alternative to peer-to-peer networks.

The newly revamped and completely legal version of Napster, which debuted Oct. 29, promises to offer users the perks of music from the Internet without the pains of copyright infringement. The basic service, available for free download, allows users to access Napster's database and download any of its more than half a million songs for $0.99 a piece.

Penn State has contracted to provide the premium service, which Oster calls "a step above basic Napster," to its students. The monthly access fee — to be covered by Penn State — includes full-length streaming music, access to Billboard music charts dating back to 1955, over 40 radio stations and music articles in addition to the basic features.

Downloading individual songs, however, will not be covered by Penn State. Still, "the student pays nothing unless they want to own a song," Oster said.

Napter's appraisal is the same point that has garnered complaints from students, many of whom prefer the free access of copyright-infringing peer-to-peer networks to pay-as-you-download alternatives such as Napster.

"The subscription is free, but you have to pay for any song you download," said Penn State sophomore Heather Baruch. "I'm not going to even use it -- I'll just use Kazaa." But free downloads have a price.

"Because of the instant gratification of the Internet, this generation has the mindset that everything should be free," Kendig said. "To infringe on copyright law and steal songs over the Internet is akin to shoplifting."

Just as stores prevent shoplifting with security cameras, the Recording Industry Association of America now monitors illegal downloading practices in what RIAA representative Jonathan Lamy called an "educational campaign" to target the largest file distributors.

Lamy said the campaign has resulted in a total of 341 lawsuits against distributors in the period from September to mid-October. RIAA watchdogs find distributors the same way that students search for songs.

Recently, the RIAA search led to the subpoena of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for information about an on-campus student who allegedly made available for download songs by RIAA artists. As yet, UNC has not responded to the subpoena because they claim that it was improperly filed.

Although students throughout the country know about the RIAA campaign, many say they are not concerned about the possibility of litigation for downloading files because, according to their understandings of peer-to-peer networks, as long as they do not allow uploads, they are safe.

"I'm not currently sharing files, so I feel like the odds that I'll actually get in trouble are very slim," said Penn State sophomore Jane Everett. "It's worth it to not have to pay."

Lamy acknowledges that to date, there has not been litigation against users who do not allow uploads. Chris Cramer, Duke's information technology security officer, said the lack of litigation stems from the difficulty in discerning who are the big downloaders.

"Right now we are focused on the distributors," Lamy said. "The idea is that if you can create enough inconvenience and deterrence for using the peer-to-peer networks, then fans will just migrate to one of the great legal services instead."

Inconvenience may not be as effective as fear, suggests Everett.

"I don't see why people will pay if they feel like they are not in danger. If people aren't afraid of [litigation], they're not going to bother," she said.

A new proposal at Penn State may prohibit students from operating peer-to-peer programs from dorm room computers unless they have a specific academic purpose, said Kendig. "We will continue enforcing legal use of our computer networks," he said, adding that as yet there are no plans to block the popular peer-to-peer software Kazaa.

Penn State sophomore Alexis Kaplan sees her school's measures as limiting.

"It's my computer, why is it their business what I do? I pay an Internet fee, so now I'm paying to not be able to do what I want online," she said.

Still, Oster remains confident that students will use Napster's charge service for its "far superior" nature to other downloading avenues.

"Peer-to-peer networks are simply utilities where you search for a song, find it, download it, and then hope against hope that you haven't infected your computer with a virus and that you actually got the whole song," Oster said.

- Emily Rotberg