by Michael Bevelaqua
Colleges and universities are at an indecision on whether to ban access to Napster from their networks. Napster is the popular program, loved by teenagers and young adults and loathed by the record industry, which provides software for users to share music on the Internet.
The record industry is now looking at colleges and universities to ban access to Napster, Inc. So far, 34 percent of U.S. colleges and universities have banned access to napster on their campus networks.
Anyone on the Napster network can download any MP3 that any other user has put up. This includes songs and even complete albums. In some instances, an advanced copy of an album can be downloaded from Napster before its actual release date. The record industry charges that the pre-release impedes sales of the album while others contend that it provides publicity and increases sales.
This brings up the case that the popular heavy metal band Metallica has against Napster. Unauthorized copying and sharing of their most recent album has caused a considerable drop in record sales for the band.
Dr. Dre now joins Metallica and most of the record industry in their efforts to shut down or at least regulate Napster. Their efforts, however, have been stifled somewhat by major colleges and universities.
A lawyer representing the musicians sent a letter to 25 major schools seeking to ban access to Napster from their networks. So far 15 schools have answered no.
Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a letter, that Penn “found the request troubling because it requested a blanket ban
