Summer entertainment sings the blues

I have a lot more free time on my hands during summer and less cheap ways to have fun. With student organizations hibernating and most people learning how to cohabitate with their parents again, the campus seems dead. So, turning outward for entertainment, I have realized that it's gotten expensive to have fun.

Last summer a friend and I bought decent tickets to three great concerts for less than a hundred dollars, total. Even if there were great concerts in town, the prices have increased out of my budget.

The price of Music Midtown tickets jumping up thirty dollars this year was hard to take even before all of the rain. I can only hope that 99X's Downtown Rocks series at Underground makes up for my current shortage of live music.

Entertainment and eating options close to campus are often out of a student's budget.

I recently went to Tech Square to check out the newest restaurant. However, one glance at the menu left me eating elsewhere. Thanks for posting the menu and saving me the embarrassment of coming inside, but I can't help but see a misled audience of students desperate for good food close to campus but with a limited budget.

Ribs and Blues finally reopening gives students another option for food nearby. It is one of the only affordable, quality restaurants on campus that accepts the BuzzCard. So many students have money on their card, but there are only limited avenues to use it. If more places followed their lead, everyone would benefit.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel - or at least alternative routes nearby. Technology Square's free outdoor summer film series, Flicks on Fifth, offers a nice opportunity to use the newer part of campus. Free admission to popular movies starting at dark helps bridge the community across the interstate.

A few places off campus are responding to the needs of students, also.

I spent Tuesday night watching Whole World Theatre's live improv show. Thanks to a ladies night and student pricing on Tuesdays, ten dollars bought my four best friends and me two hours of laugh-out-loud comedy only two minutes from campus. Businesses gain an audience and students gain more relaxation outlets from discounts like this. It is a win-win situation more places close to campus should try.

Sadly, the cost of entertainment itself just keeps increasing. The Supreme Court ruled Monday in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster that internet file-sharing services will be held responsible if they intend for people to use their software illegally. Whether or not you feel that downloading is illegal, this decision will have an impact on the cost of music.

I am sure that the industry hopes this will increase the use of legal file-sharing services that sell songs, but since foreign programs won't fall under the new ruling the traffic will most likely only move. Still, this new ruling may save students from being prosecuted as it gives the entertainment industry a legal alternative to individually going after illegal file-sharers.

The ruling, whether or not it deters illegal downloading, does not solve the industry's problem of figuring how to effectively reach consumers who rely on digital music.

My friend just bought the new Acceptance CD, not realizing it came complete with copyright protection. Unfortunately for him, this means he can't put the songs he paid for on his IPod. Record companies moving in this direction are only alienating their legal customers.

Adding copyright protection to more CDs will only push people into downloading, such as my friend who had to illegally download the songs he owned.

As students we are always needing opportunities to relax and having to search for inexpensive options often ends in frustration.

Whether it is the newest obnoxious Gwen Stefani single you are trying to download or just a place to have lunch, more often than not college students as a consumer audience are overlooked. The entertainment industry, both local and global, should look for inventive ways to appeal to our need-cheap, quality entertainment.