College students are not likely to pass up anything marked as “free.”

But when the free product regards downloading music, students think of potential lawsuits and suddenly, “free” doesn’t convince them to buy in. The Wall Street Journal said even though legal downloading services are available at discounted rates through universities, students still choose to illegally obtain their music.

NIU is affiliated with Ruckus, a service that allows users to download music for free and movies for an additional $14.95.

Cindy Phillips, NIU’s Director of ITS customer support services, said 2200 students in the residence halls this past spring were Ruckus users.

“Since they changed their model where the music subscription is for free, we had a large intake of users last spring,” she said.

That 10 percent of students agree that legally downloading music is the best way to avoid a love note from the music industry in the form of a lawsuit.

However, the other 90 percent has yet to be persuaded.

Senior journalism major Katherine Kelley is part of the 90 percent.

“It’ll never actually work,” Kelley said. “Nobody’s going to get rid of their music just because they say you have to.”

Since the outbreak of mini, large and any-size-in-between iPods, horror stories about other campus policies have dissuaded some NIU students from using Ruckus. Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., offers Napster. The system allows users to download music for free during their college years, but forces them to give up the music upon graduation.

For Krysti Schroeder, a senior dance performance major, a solution was simple.

“If you just burn your music onto CDs, it doesn’t matter if they make you give it up or pay for it,” she said.

Senior economics major Adam Aubuchon is not impressed by Ruckus.

“It’s too easy to get around,” he said. “You could just hack the software.”

Phillips said the evident split between students is to be seen with any product.

“[Ruckus is] competing with other online entertainment offerings,” she said. “The only thing that Ruckus brings to the table that might differentiate them is that they also provide movies, TV series, and an online community opportunity where you can share information between your colleagues. How well they benefit the markets of their services over [another service’s] will determine their success.”