Ruckus Network, an online music and movie downloading service, is now available to Grant Towers residents living on the third through sixth floors.

The program, which was first made available for testing on the third floor of each tower, can only be accessed in Grant due to a controlled rollout of the service, said Cindy Phillips, director of telecommunications.

Before testing began, NIU’s telecommunications department along with Student Housing and Dining Services decided Grant Towers would be sufficient, Phillips said. In Grant, students can access an Ethernet 10 Base T connection, whereas the other residence halls have DSL, she said. Ethernet has a better capacity, she said.

The program is limited to certain floors is because they wanted to make sure the network could handle the traffic, Phillips said.

Keith Kruchten, president of the Residence Hall Association, said the program is secured so students must use their IP addresses and passwords to login within the authorized subnet of floors in Grant.

For example, if a student uses a friend’s login information in a different area, the user will receive an error message that denies authorization, Kruchten said. To access the program, students use their NIU network login IDs and passwords, Phillips said. She said students are testing a limited version of the program.

Through Ruckus, residents can access thousands of songs and download up to eight movies from the 25 listed, Phillips said.

Ruckus chose NIU to be developing partners in the testing of the program because of problems with illegal file sharing, Phillips said.

Walter Czerniak, vice president of information and technology services, stated in a newspaper interview that higher education was having problems with illegal file sharing. Phillips said Ruckus saw this information and contacted the university to find a solution to the problem.

“We didn’t want to be in the limelight of students being sued,” Phillips said. “We wanted to give students alternatives.”

Ruckus was introduced to NIU students Aug. 19 after the Huskie Bash at a kick-off party organized by Ruckus and NIU’s Residence Hall Association.

Though Amanda Cruz, a freshman business management major, said there were many pamphlets and fliers with information on Ruckus in Grant, she didn’t know of anyone who had used the program.

Some residents were unaware of the program but were interested in using it.

“I like listening to music and not having to buy the entire CD to get one song,” said Nathaniel Rey, a sophomore finance major.

Phillips said if pilot testing goes well in Grant Towers, NIU plans to make the program available to all residents in Stevenson Towers within a year. However, she said students using the program now and RHA will decide if the program will go further.