What is Ruckus?
Ruckus is the premiere digital entertainment network designed
specifically for college students. The Ruckus experience
blends college students’ top interests – friends
and entertainment – to create a strong sense of community
at universities across the country. Whether looking for
a roommate with similar interests or someone who enjoys
R & B as much as they do, Ruckus members are able to
find friends through media and media through friends. Today,
the Ruckus service is available to hundreds of thousands
of U.S. college students and is quickly becoming the brand
of choice for higher education institutions nationwide.
For more information, visit Ruckus.com.
Why would I want to use Ruckus?
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), instituted
a formal campaign to launch lawsuits against users for illegally
downloading copyrighted music in 2003. As peer-to-peer file
sharing grew in popularity, so too did the RIAA’s
efforts. Although file sharing among college students is
only a fraction of file sharing globally, if not controlled
universities could be forced to make file sharing from campus
computers impossible.
Bradley University elected to provide its students a way
to legally download virus-free digital songs, access movies
and television shows, and share downloaded playlists. Ruckus
multimedia service is currently offering its music download
service at no cost to any registered Bradley student accessing
Ruckus.
With this service students can legally share music, movies
and television shows; create playlists; send personal media
recommendations to friends; and browse classmates’
profiles and media libraries. Students can build their libraries
from Ruckus’ collection of more than 1.8 million songs,
thousands of Hollywood movies*, and hit TV shows* like “Lost”
and “Desperate Housewives,” legally available
through exclusive licensing agreements with the top multimedia
distributors nationwide.
*requires subscription fee service available through Ruckus
How much does it cost?
Ruckus multimedia service is currently offering its music
download service at no cost to any registered Bradley student
accessing Ruckus.
Who is eligible for this service?
Registered Bradley students are eligible for this service
and will remain so as long as the service is available and
they are students. Alumni and staff have access to Ruckus
for a small monthly fee.
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System Requirements
To use Ruckus, you must have:
• A computer running Microsoft Windows XP SP2+ or
Windows 2000. Unfortunately, Ruckus does not work with Macintoshs*
or iPods.
• 800 MHz or faster CPU
• 256 MB or greater RAM
• Windows Media Player 10 (WMP 9 for Windows 2000)
• Macromedia Flash Player 6.0 or higher
• Quicktime 6.5 for RuckusTV
• 10 MB free hard disk space for Ruckus Player
• ~4 MB free hard disk space per song and ~700 MB
per movie
• Windows Internet Explorer 6 (medium security setting,
javascript enabled, and allow cookies)
*New dual core INTEL Macintoshes will run Ruckus under
the Windows XP operating system.
Creating an account
To begin using Ruckus you must first create an account.
Follow the instructions below to get setup with an account.
1. Visit www.Ruckus.com and click on Join Ruckus Now.
2. Select Bradley University from the drop-down
list and then enter your school email address.
3. Enter your school email address twice, and check the
box "I am a student"
4. Ruckus will now authenticate that you are registered
for classes at the school you selected, and you will receive
an email from Ruckus containing a link. If you receive the
error message 'email address not found', this means that
Ruckus did not receive your information. Contact Ruckus
by clicking the "Ask a Question".
5. Open the email that was sent to your school email address
and click on the link to be taken to the personal information
page.
6. At the personal information page, fill out all the fields
and then hit "Next" to complete your registration.
7. Login to Ruckus.com. By completing step 4 you will be registered
for Ruckus. You can now login, create a profile, write reviews,
and view all music, movie and editorial content on Ruckus.
Downloading and Installing the Ruckus Player
Ensure that your computer meets our Ruckus System Requirements.
Searching for Content
You can search for new albums and tracks to download by
signing your account into Ruckus.com. The upper-right hand
corner of your screen has an easy-to-use search box. You will
not be able to find new music searching from inside the Ruckus
Player (read more on searching from within Ruckus Player.)
By artist
Select "Music: Artist" from the drop-down menu.
Type in the name of an artist and select "GO".
The search will produce a list of artists whose names match
what you entered. Select the artist you are interested in
and you will be taken to their separate page. At the artists
page you can view and download all albums by that artists
and the artist’s biography will be displayed. To be
taken to a specific album page simply select the album.
By album
Select "Music: Album" from the drop-down menu.
Type in the name of an album and select "GO".
The search will produce a list of albums whose names match
what you entered. Select an album to be taken that album’s
page on Ruckus. At the album page you can read a description
of the album, and you can view, download, or buy the entire
album or just certain tracks on it. You can also recommend
the album to a friend. To download the entire album check
the box next to the "Download" button and then
select "Download". This will put all the songs
in that album in your download queue and your Ruckus Player
will begin downloading them. If you only want to download
certain songs instead of the entire album then put a check
in the box next to the songs that you want to download and
select "Download". To buy the album and be able
to burn it to CD, select the ‘Buy CD’ button.
This will take you to the albums page on Buy.com. If you
want to buy some of the songs but not the entire album then
select the "Buy" button next to the songs you
want to buy.
By track
To search for a specific track select "Music: Track"
from the drop-down menu. Enter the name of the track you
are searching for and select "GO". The search
will come back to you with a list of tracks that matched
what you typed in. Download a song by putting a check in
its corresponding box and selecting "Download".
The song will be placed in queue for the Ruckus Player to
download.
Search for People
To search for a profile select "People" from
the drop-down list. Search for a specific profile by either
typing in either their real name or their Ruckus screen
name and then select "GO". You can also browse
through all the profiles on Ruckus by leaving the box empty
and selecting "GO".
Will Ruckus work on my MP3 Portable Devices?
Yes! Thanks to DRM, the encryption software that legal
downloading services use to protect media files from being
illegally shared, you can now have unlimited music...to
go! This new feature makes Ruckus a convenient and legal
alternative to p2p downloads.
In order to use this feature, you must:
1) Have a valid Ruckus-to-go subscription. See our Ruckus
to Go page.
2) Have a Playsforsure Subscription compatible MP3 player
.(see below)
3) Have updated firmware for your particular player. Some
players may need you to visit the manufacturer’s web
site to download the most current (Playsforsure compatible)
firmware for your computer.
NOTE:
Not all players are compatible for this feature. When purchasing
a player, look for the "Playsforsure" logo that
is compliant with both audio downloads and subscription The
PlaysForSure logo is not enough. The player needs to be marked
for Subscription. Microsoft provides a list ofPlaysforsure
Subscription Enabled Players , however just because your players
isn't listed doesn't mean it's not PlaysForSure Subscription
compatible. Look for the Subscription-checked logo below on
the box or on the manufacture's information page on your player.
Ensure the PlaysForSure logo is checked for Subscription.
iPods
Ruckus will work with many mp3 players, but unfortunately
not iPods. To see if your mp3 player will work with subscription
services like Ruckus, see supported PlayForSure Subscription
Enabled Devices.
Apple has no plans on making the iPod work with the PlaysForSure
subscription standard Ruckus uses. Apple has not licensed
their DRM technology to any company. DRM, or digital rights
management, is the encryption software that legal download
services such as Ruckus use to secure the media files so
that they can’t be illegally shared. Apple has created
their own proprietary DRM technology and has decided to
stay with a closed system.
Burning Music to CD's
The music you download from Ruckus can not be burned. The
license agreements Ruckus has with record labels prohibit
burning songs to CDs. Ruckus offers two options for burning
- eMusic and Buy.com.
Ruckus offers a limited subscription to eMusic where you
can download a certain number of songs per month from the
eMusic site that can be burned to CD. You can subscribe
to this service by clicking on the My Account link when
you are signed into the Ruckus site. Ruckus also has a partnership
through Buy.com to offer burnable songs at 99 cents a track
(or less!). You can purchase burnable songs through the
Ruckus page by clicking on the green $ next to the track
you are interested in.
What is the "Renew By" date?
The date beside "Renew By" in your music and
movie libraries indicates when the license for each title
will expire. If you are logged into Ruckus and play an expired
song, the license will renew automatically. You can also
manually renew the license by right-clicking the title and
selecting "renew license." You can renew a track
as many times as you like as long as you are a Ruckus subscriber.
If you cancel Ruckus, you will no longer be able to renew
your licenses. You can renew all the songs in your library
by selecting them all and “renewing license”.
This action may be lengthy depending on the number of songs
you select.
What happens to my content after I leave Bradley?
When you graduate or leave campus, the content on your
computer will be available until the “renew by”
date expires. When that date is reached, content will no
longer be playable unless the Ruckus subscription is renewed.
How can I pay for services?
All fees for subscriptions and services are billed directly
to the customer through a variety of payment methods. Go
to Ruckus.com for more information.
Do I have to live on-campus to get Ruckus music?
No. Music services are available to students both off
and on campus.
Do I have to live on-campus to get Ruckus movies and TV
shows?
Ruckus movies or TV shows are only available for downloading
from a campus connection. Once downloaded to your computer,
movie and TV downloads are fully functional from any location.
How can I contact Ruckus Support?
You can e-mail the support staff at support@ruckus.com.
Be sure to include the email address you registered to Ruckus
with and a description of the problem. Any additional information
will be helpful in determining the problem.
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