With the music industry pushing legal downloads, digital music services have offered a not so appealing alternative – programs that are not free.

The iTunes program comes with the purchase of an iPod. iTunes allows users to search through over two million songs, 15,000 podcasts and 11,000 audiobooks, according to the official Apple Web site. Songs cost 99 cents each, or $9.99 an album.

As iTunes has risen in popularity, similar programs have followed suit, offering, what some feel is a better deal. Most of these programs can be used with MP3 players other than the iPod.

Freshman political science major Michael Thunberg said he has iTunes, but does not use it to download music. He purchased Limewire Pro instead.

“I get all the programs with unlimited downloads,” Thunberg said.

He said he finds this a nice alternative to iTunes’ 99-cents-a-song deal.

Yahoo! Music Unlimited costs $59.88 a year, but subscription songs cannot be burned to a CD – only transferred to a portable music player. Subscribers only have access to these songs while their subscription is active. They can purchase songs for 79 cents, and those can be burned to CD.

Yahoo! offers more than 1 million songs, although iPods do not accept the subscription tracks. The Yahoo! Music Engine is free to download and tracks cost 99 cents.

A Napster subscription costs $9.95 a month, while Napster To Go runs $14.95 a month and allows users to transfer tunes to a compatible MP3 player, according to Napster’s official Web site. Napster also requires their users to have an active subscription to access their songs. Napster Light is most similar to iTunes, where songs can be purchased for 99 cents and can be burned or transferred to a compatible MP3 player. Napster works with more than 75 MP3 players.

Avery Kotler, Napster’s senior director of business and legal affairs, said he is aware most college student still use illegal download software. Napster offers a subscription to college campuses across the nation, much like Ruckus does at NIU.

“We really have phenomenal success,” Kotler said. “The schools that launch with us stay with us.”

The average number of downloads for students using Napster is about 10 songs per user per day, Kotler said. Participating schools receive 70 to 80 percent off the regular price – averaging out to a couple dollars a month. Each university decides how to pay for the program. Students under the subscription provided by the university have the option to upgrade to Napster To Go.

The 99 cents a track is not considered competition to Napster, Kotler said.

“Students aren’t that interested in it,” Kotler said.

Kotler said he thinks students are more interested in whether there is a good collection of music and if they like how the program works.

Napster’s university program was launched in 2003 and is used by more than 20 colleges or universities.

While Napster, iTunes and Yahoo! are big names in the music downloading industry, they are missing one important component – free downloads.

Other music programs offer downloads for free. Music lovers have no restrictions with these programs and are able to burn, copy, share and transfer songs as many times as they please.

Sophomore kinesiology major Eddie Brewer uses iTunes so he can store music for his iPod.

“I like Limewire, too,” Brewer said. “I like all of them, really.”

Some students have trouble downloading file-sharing programs such as Kazaa or Morpheus. Limewire is a popular file-sharing program in the residence halls.

“It’s the only thing that works here,” said junior criminology major Russ Decaluwe of Limewire.

If caught downloading illegal music or movies, typical penalties from NIU may include loss of computing privileges, academic probation or expulsion, according to the Information and Technology Services Web site.

Last fall, during a Ruckus pilot program, more than 75 percent of students in Stevenson and Grant were in the program, said Associate Director of ITS Elizabeth Leake.

Beginning this fall ITS began to offer every student, including those living in the residence halls and off campus, the ability to subscribe to the service.

“Students were looking for a legal way to download,” Leake said.

Leake said NIU has received fewer cease and desist letters since Ruckus came to NIU.