14 DAY TRIAL // It is already a well-known fact that Spotify, one of the leading services in the field of music streaming, has been banned in the Oxford University. The British representatives explained their decision by stating that the streaming app was excessively used by students, thus taking up too much bandwidth that could not be otherwise accounted for. Needless to say, the youngsters on the campus were not too pleased with the decision.
The same prompt reaction came from the Spotify officials, who declared that they started discussions with the Oxford authorities to restore music-streaming access as soon as possible. “It’s important that we offer a high-quality service that gives our users instant - and legal - access to music, but equally we’re working constantly to optimise our technology to ensure everyone can enjoy Spotify.”
The exact number of Spotify users on Oxford campus has not been revealed so far, neither the time periods it was accessed. Also, it seems that Spotify has not received any similar complaints from any other university, despite the fact that it is currently being used by almost 7 million users all around Europe.
The streaming service is based on a peer-to-peer architecture that uses each connected computer as a server that will help spread the music around. Consequently, when a P2P application becomes highly popular and is intensely passed around, it poses the danger of overloading the system with traffic. In these conditions, it is no surprise that numerous universities have chosen to ban the usage of this distribution method.
Speaking strictly of Oxford, it appears that it has not banned all services based on P2P, since some of the applications still function and Skype and World of Warcraft have found a way to bypass the peer-to-peer ban.
However, it is worth mentioning that the British university only applied the Spotify interdiction on its own network, the one that can be used free of charge by any student while in the libraries, halls or other communal spaces. In other words, all those who are using mobile Internet or are located in private residences can still enjoy the music-streaming app.
“University rules and regulations […] apply to all P2P software (which Spotify is) and are there to protect the network from excessive bandwidth usage,” wrote Stuart Lee, the director of computing systems and support at Oxford University Computer Services.