The New Napster
So it's a Friday night and you, being a stereotypical Penn State student, are ready to go out. Whether it be the latest fraternity party, or just a get together in an apartment, everyone is well aware of the evenings plans. Go to a party, drink some beer, take a few shots, and make your way home at some point in the evening. But you show up at this party and you hear the news, there will be no alcohol at this party. There will be no alcohol at any party that Penn State students attend. Instead, Gram Spanier has kindly purchased a vending machine full of non-alcoholic beverages that you can sample for free, but if you want to drink the whole thing, you must pay ninety-nine cents. He doesn't want any Penn State students getting in trouble with the police and that underage drinking law. So he's provided an alternative. Isn't he a wonderful president? I think not. This is Dr. Spanier's way of helping out the students of Penn State. This is his way of making sure we stay out of trouble. Except its not underage drinking that he's attempting to ban, its illegal file sharing. Penn State has recently adopted a new file-sharing program called Napster. Napster was previously shut down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Ironically, these players are made by the same company that created Napster. Not only is this new file-sharing program a problem in this sense, it is also a problem to students who do not have the computer capabilities to use the new Napster program. Downloading songs is free, but to burn these songs onto a compact disc, the cost is ninety-nine cents per song or nine dollars and ninety-five cents for a whole album (Penn State and, 2003). A portion of every one of these students information technology fee is being used for this purpose and they are not even able to use the program. Students used the server to upload files to their web space so they can access it from their personal computer or a lab, depending on where they were. Of course Penn State is getting tons of publicity for this being the FIRST University to set up such a wonderful thing for us lucky students. The new program gives on campus students free access to more than 500,000 songs, as well as forty radio stations, along with access to six decades of Billboard chart data, an online magazine and community features. Of course he is getting credited greatly for this amazing deal. If students decide they would like to illegally download music files, then they will handle the consequences. There's no way that the nationwide publicity he is getting could be part of the reason he's doing it. (Borland, 2003) Not only are there people with computers who are incompatible, there are students with newly purchased mp3 players that do not work with this specific program. Not to mention, not all students use the network in illegal ways. It seems to me, it is a waste of money. Then if I need to work on them in the computer lab, I'll have to walk all the way back.
Common topics in this essay:
Gram Spanier,
Dr Spanier,
America RIAA,
IST Building,
Battaglia Providing,
,
Maybe Penn,
Jarzab Borland,
Dr Spanier's,
William Enck,
penn students,
dr spanier,
gram spanier,
information technology,
program students,
file-sharing program,
mp3 players,
doesn't penn students,
editorial 2004,
alcohol party,
ninety-nine cents,
information technology fee,
|
Acceptance Essays
