Ruckus music service closes down
Downloads may continue to play for up to 30 days

February 9, 2009
by Sean O'Malley

OHIO students, faculty and staff have one less option for legal music downloads, now that Ruckus Networks has closed its doors.  

On February 6, 2009 at approximately 5:30 pm, Ruckus announced on their website that their subscription-based music download service would "no longer be provided."  The university received no prior notice of the closure, and attempts to contact Ruckus have been unsuccessful.

Because Ruckus protected its files with a Windows Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme that only requires renewal every 30 days, songs downloaded or renewed in the last month should continue to work until their individual licenses expire.

Ruckus replaced Ctrax in 2007 as the university's preferred provider for free, "all you can eat," legal music downloads for OHIO students.  Ctrax was available from September 2004 until its parent company, Cdigix, went out of business on May 1, 2007.