Oxford University bans Spotify from its network
updated 05:20 pm EST, Mon January 18, 2010
Spotify's popularity proves its undoing at Oxford
The IT department at Oxford University in the UK banned access to the free and unlimited streaming music service Spotify because it eats up too much bandwidth. While students who use Spotify are in an uproar over the ban, the Oxford University Computer Services (OUCS) defends its decision, saying a network upgrade is justified only by a "genuine academic requirement," rather than streaming Internet music services.
"Bandwidth that seems insignificant for one user will soon add up when scaled up to the many thousands of users connected to Oxford University's networks," was the OUCS's response to criticism of the move from students.
Spotify uses peer-to-peer to distribute music and is available for free, though users will have to listen to ads, or as a Premium subscription service that increases the quality of the music, gets rid of the ads and further burdens the network.[via TechRadar]
