College Downloads Go Legit With Dell and Napster

Everyone who's been a student knows that college life is very exciting, but it also has its downsides, especially from the financial point of view. And that's one of the main reasons for which illegal file sharing is one of the student's most favorite methods of getting the latest songs.

Acknowledging this situation, Dell and Napster have decided to team up in order to bring a new digital-music download service to U.S. college campuses. The two companies will offer a bundled package, consisting of a Dell PowerEdge 1855 blade server, which will be loaded with Napster's SuperPeer software, thus allowing schools to locally store music and other content.

The two companies said that the placement of a caching server within the campus' network has the purpose of easing the pressure put on the university's network from simultaneous digital music downloads by hundreds of students. At least this is the official statement, but it's very likely that this is also a move aimed at reducing the level of piracy that runs rampant in college campuses.

As part of the partnership, Dell will start selling subscriptions to Napster's music service in the fall. Dell will also sell discounted Napster portable subscriptions, and will offer students special offers on bundled packages that include the Dell Pocket DJ, the Dell Digital Jukebox 20 and the Dell Digital DJ 30.

Napster currently offers a download service for personal computers for $9.95 a month, and a service for $14.95 a month that lets people download songs onto their computers and then play them on their portable music players.

In any case, this is very good news for the students, who'll be able to enjoy their favorite tunes at discount prices, and this time in a completely legal manner.