More NIU students living on campus can now download their favorite music, movies and TV shows free with the expansion of the Ruckus network.

The file sharing program, Ruckus, made its debut on NIU’s campus this past fall. The service was only available in Grant Towers, but since winter break, the network has become available in Stevenson Towers.

“Ruckus requires a LAN connection to the Internet to work, so it is only available in Grant and Stevenson,” said Brian Frank, Ruckus Technical Support Representative. “NIU has been talking about updating Lincoln, Douglas and Neptune residence halls from DSL to a LAN connection in the near future.”

An upgrade in Lincoln, Douglas and Neptune would come sometime next year if money is secured and the plan is approved by the university, Frank said.

Over winter break, Ruckus changed its format from beta to a new format that allows students to watch movies after downloading them, instead of streaming the media. Ruckus also has made its media library larger, Frank said.

Students are finding that free, fast downloads are not the only benefit of using Ruckus.

Paul Pizzi, a freshman industrial engineering major, downloads 10 to 15 files a week from Ruckus.

“I like that I can download music and I don’t have to worry about getting a lawsuit in the mail,” he said.

The Residence Hall Association is also working with Ruckus to provide prizes for the community advisers of the residence hall that uses Ruckus the most.

Stevenson and Grant make up eight separate towers and the CAs of the tower that have the highest percent of users will win a $50 gift card from Best Buy, a $20 gift certificate to Movie Link and have a chance at a grand prize drawing for a $1,000 travel voucher to anywhere in the United States, said RHA President, Keith Kruchten.

Ruckus is available for download at http://ruckusnetwork.niu.edu/ and is free for download use by NIU students.