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Rich Graves

January 27, 2005
08:48:16 PM 		Response to Cheap Music Services
I agree that the proposed introductory text isn't very good, but I would be interested to find out what the general student body (I'm afraid that SITAC isn't very representative) thinks about this.

I noticed this the other day; I found it interesting. A lot more balanced than the stories coming out of Penn State.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/1.20.05/Napster_eval.html

Elliot Kendall

January 28, 2005
09:42:04 AM 		How about "Should Brandeis use student technology fees to finance a legal music downloading service?"
  • Yes
  • No
  • Undecided
  • Only if it works with my Mac and/or iPod
  • Only if I can burn the songs to CD
  • Only if it works with my Linux box
  • Only if it has no DRM

Those last two are probably unlikely to get many votes, but they might as well be included for the sake of completeness. If we really wanted to get accurate numbers for the whole campus, running an authenticated poll on survey.brandeis.edu and getting it written up in the Justice would probably get us a lot of responses.

Seán Patrick Hogan

January 29, 2005
08:58:22 PM 		I like those choices. Too bad I can't answer, only if it works with my iPod, Linux box and doesn't have DRM ;). On the whole, I think that is a good poll to publish.
Danny Silverman
Topic Moderator

January 30, 2005
10:54:49 AM 		Right, thats the problem, I would select multiple. Also, its not a "download" service (or is it?) when your music expires. And no indication of what it costs. survey.brandeis would be more appropriate for any legitimate survey.
Elliot Kendall

January 31, 2005
12:37:16 AM 		Well, if it has no DRM then it's obviously going to work with your Linux box and iPod. If it works with Linux then it's probably going to work with your iPod (DRMed wmvs fall into this category). Heck, if you can burn it to CD then it'll "work" with anything if you don't mind reencoding. But Danny's right; if we want any kind of useful results, this belongs on survey.brandeis.edu.
Seán Patrick Hogan

January 31, 2005
01:12:45 AM 		Well, Linux can't (legally) play MP3 or AAC files - I know you can add the capability. I'm not sure if there is any OSS that can play WMA though (even illegally).

Why not create a SurvSimp survey? I'm not sure how survey.brandeis.edu differs, but SurvSimp seems like it would be able to do this.

Adam Batkin

January 31, 2005
01:27:02 AM 		MP3 and AAC
Saying that Linux can't legally play MP3 or AAC files is misleading. IANAL but I don't believe it is illegal to use an MP3 player under linux or any other F/OSS OS. Just because RedHat and Debian don't ship a player in their default distributions (being concerned about patents and all) doesn't make it illegal. Also, if memory serves, AAC files are pretty open and standard, it is only Apple's DRM protected files that are closed (and protected). It seems like a pretty nifty format actually.

Personally, I think a service that provided plain MP3 files would be great. MP3 is basically a universal standard that almost any player can use. Of course, I don't see that happening in the way we would all like to see, any time soon.

Seán Patrick Hogan

January 31, 2005
04:37:33 AM 		Well, what makes a standard "open". One could easily argue that WMA is just as open as MP3 or AAC. All are formats that are owned by a company or companies that are licensed to anyone who wants to pay the fees to use the format. MP3 is protected by patents (like GIFs were) which prevents them from being used by OSS.

If you look at the Ubuntu page on restricted formats (http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/RestrictedFormats/view?searchterm=mp3), it notes that MP3 is patent-encumbered for both encoding and decoding and that the patents are being actively enforced. Now, I know that no one is going to come after me for installing a non-licenced MP3 decoder on my system, but MP3 is a non-free format that can't legally be used without paying a license fee. Maybe I should try mailing them a check?

I mean, it is legal to play MP3s on Linux as long as you or the creator of the software has paid for the decoder license, but that eliminates part of the point of F/OSS. Plus, Ogg Vorbis sounds sooooooo much better.

Danny Silverman
Topic Moderator

January 31, 2005
09:53:25 AM 		No, Real has purchased a license for Linux, or at least for Helix. There is a legal way to play MP3s on Linux. WMV is not an open format, there is no decoder but Microsoft's decoder.
Seán Patrick Hogan

January 31, 2005
01:28:58 PM 		Real has paid for a decoder for RealPlayer 10 for Linux NOT the F/OSS Helix Player. It is a legal way to play MP3s on Linux, but not a great jukebox. It's kinda a mute point though since I doubt that any music service would support Linux and the fact that I'm currently drooling over the new PowerBooks.
Noah Haber

January 31, 2005
02:21:19 PM 		I'm definately not planning on using Student Union, or anyone else's for that matter, money for this. It'll come out of the students who want the service's pockets. These services are contracting Universities with extremely reduced in price memberships. It'll have to be a special deal with Brandeis, which is why it only "may be possible." As for the downloads, you don't technically get the files, which means it's near impossible to export without dubbing them. They don't currently work with Mac, and probably don't work for Linux yet.
Noah Haber

January 31, 2005
02:29:36 PM 		I really just want to know whether this is something that a significant number of students would actually be interested. If no one is willing to pay for it, then how many people would use it. I suppose that the options should be as follows:

1) I would be willing to pay $3 per month for this service
2) I would only use this service if it was completely free
3) I wouldn't use this service

Noah Haber

January 31, 2005
03:04:12 PM 		Note: If anyone can come up with a more concise intro paragraph that is more effective, please suggest one.
Noah Haber

January 31, 2005
03:06:24 PM 		Note #2: If it is reasonably popular with the student body, it may be possible in the future to convince administrators to make this free for students.
Danny Silverman
Topic Moderator

January 31, 2005
03:38:24 PM 		Nothing is ever free. What current service would you like to trade? WBRS? ;)
Elliot Kendall

January 31, 2005
05:20:52 PM 		Noah, I think your version is a little too concise. The average respondant isn't going to know what's meant by "completely free," and the way these things are being negotiatated at other schools isn't really in terms of "pay $3 a month." The service would likely be all-or-nothing for the whole campus, and that money would likely come out of student technology fees. It's fine to drop the undecided, Linux, and DRM answers on the version I proposed for the sake of being concise, but a lot of people are going to be concerned about iPods and burning CDs.
Noah Haber

February 1, 2005
06:13:33 PM 		From what I understand, they really are in terms of $3 a month. They monopolize on the fact that you'll lose all of your music after you leave so you'll have to pay the full price when you leave school. As for the iPod and CD thing, that's exactly what I'm trying to determine by this survey. If 95% of the campus wouldn't even consider paying for it, then it's not worth nagotiating. However, if a significant number of people might actually get it despite the iPod thing, then it's worth looking further into.
Seán Patrick Hogan

February 1, 2005
06:41:52 PM 		Well, you also need to make it clear that this isn't getting files that they can burn to CD or keep in the survey.
Samantha Levin

February 17, 2005
05:27:57 PM 		poll topics stolen from other schools :)

How tolerant do you feel the campus is towards diverse groups/views?

  • Not tolerant at all
  • Not very tolerant
  • Somewhat tolerant
  • Very tolerant

What role should Greek life play at Brandeis?

  • Greater role
  • Same role
  • Lesser role
  • No role

How would you rate the social life at Brandeis?

  • Great
  • Good
  • Average
  • Poor
  • Non-existant
Danny Silverman
Topic Moderator

February 24, 2005
12:46:07 PM 		What is your primary campus news source?
  • The Justice
  • The Brandeis Hoot
  • Brandeis Reporter
  • Other news source
  • I do not read campus news
Steven Karel Administrator

February 24, 2005
12:49:45 PM 		news source options
  • word of mouth
  • http://my.brandeis.edu/news/

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