EITS Help Desk consultants provide front-line support for RUCKUS digital media download service

Enterprise Information Technology Services Press Release
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Friday, February 8, 2008

WRITER: Sarah Lee, 706/542-5359, slee23@uga.edu
CONTACT: Bert DeSimone, 706-338-9849, bert@uga.edu

ATHENS, Ga.— RUCKUS is here, a music/movie service for students (as well as faculty, staff, and alumni) at UGA. Using free, downloadable software, enrolled students with a valid UGA email address can now enjoy and share music, videos, films and other media with friends at UGA and other universities in the United States.

For students, computer downloads are free. For $19.95 a semester, they can purchase RUCKUS to Go, allowing them to download music to MP3 players that support subscription services. Faculty, staff, and alumni can pay $8.99 a month for downloads and the subscription service.

UGA students, faculty, staff, and alumni can sign up for RUCKUS at ruckus.com.

RUCKUS made its way to UGA via the Student Government Association (SGA), who approached University administrators last spring with the idea of providing a free music/movie download service to UGA students. A University-wide committee was formed to examine and assess the available services.

RUCKUS was chosen in late fall, and IT Contracts and Licensing Administration, a unit within the Office of the CIO, negotiated a contract for all University System of Georgia Institutions. RUCKUS was officially launched soon thereafter, with the SGA announcing the service through campus-wide emails and the student newspaper, the Red and Black.

According to C. J. Winger, a manager at the EITS Help Desk, he and his co-workers tested RUCKUS for the past six months. "We can offer basic advice and troubleshooting tips to the campus user, but RUCKUS is ultimately responsible for maintaining their own Web site and service," said Winger.

RUCKUS is currently compatible with Windows only; however, Chris Utah, director of Campus Sales for RUCKUS, says that within the next few months a streaming feature will be introduced that will finally make the RUCKUS service available to Mac users.

"Downloading music and video from RUCKUS requires an account," said Winger. "Those interested in signing up for RUCKUS should visit the RUCKUS Web site (ruckus.com).

Winger also suggested that those with specific question about RUCKUS should visit the Web site and select the "Feedback" link. This link opens up a page that will allow users to either ask a question to the RUCKUS support team or view "Answers" to frequently asked questions.

"UGA hit the one millionth RUCKUS song download on January 18," said Utah. "UGA subscribers to the RUCKUS service download a daily average of 9,022 songs."

About the Office of the CIO and EITS
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) are committed to the mission of UGA as a land-and-sea-grant institution where academics come first and the research extensive university community encourages research efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To that end, under the direction of the University´s Chief Information Officer, EITS endeavors to provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure, maintain essential production services, and offer world-class support.

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