(Reuters) (11/8/03)

Edited By Michael Bennett

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - In a move aimed at stemming wide-scale online piracy on college campuses, Penn State University has reached a deal to offer thousands of students free access to the Napster music service.

Penn State President Graham Spanier said the school will offer students access to digital music and limited downloading from Napster's newly relaunched music service at no cost.

Students can also buy permanent downloads that can be burned to CDs or transferred to portable devices for 99 cents each, he said.

Napster, the song-swap pioneer that revolutionized online music and turned the music industry upside down, was bought last year by Roxio Inc. in a bankruptcy auction. A new legal version of the service was launched late last month, offering individual songs for 99 cents each, albums for $9.95 or unlimited monthly subscriptions for $9.95.

"There will be no additional costs to students for this service," Spanier said, adding the program will be funded under a $160 information technology fee paid by students each semester that Penn State already had in place.

"The price we negotiated with Napster was so reasonable and possible to do within our fee structure," said Spanier, noting the technology fee covers various services, including access to databases, modems and certain software.

The deal is significant in that the song-swap revolution had its roots on university campuses where Napster first took hold in 1999. Penn State, with about 83,000 students on several campuses, was one of several universities that banned the use of Napster on university computer networks in the midst of the record industry's legal battle that eventually shut down the service.

"This will be the first step in a new, legal approach designed to meet student interest in getting extensive digital access to music," Spanier said.

Penn State said student groups have already been testing the service. In the spring, it will provide access to Napster for about 18,000 students and make it available to all eligible students, as well as faculty and staff, next fall.

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