For a change, I decided to try to have my mom’s input on this review.

I had a wide variety of new music for her to listen to and see if I should do my review on this album or that album. Let’s just say that my mom and I do not have common music tastes. We sat in the kitchen on my one day off, and I started to play some music, hoping she could help me out.

The first song I played for her was from the band Lydia, which I believe is amazing. Mom didn’t think it was; she said she got a feeling of depression and sadness from just the beginning of the song and the lead singer’s voice. The next song was from Mayday Parade, she didn’t like it either but she said the band wasn’t as bad as Lydia. Circa Survive was next, and she said that the lead singer sounded too much like a girl.

My mom’s friend Edna came for lunch and my mom told her what we were doing. I then played for them some Five Times August and they first thing Edna said was, "Sandi don’t you have any country?"

The answer was "yes," because I have a very eclectic collection of music.

I played some Miranda Lambret for them and they eventually stopped listening altogether and I decided to just figure it out on my own.

I only have two columns left and I’m really at a point where I don’t know who to review. There is so much out there that I want people to know about.

As I am writing this, I have settled on reviewing something different. It is this new online music player, which is what I use to download all my music these days.

This music player is called Ruckus. It is completely legal, and it is awesome. It is a college-only digital entertainment community. It is helping aid in the battle between college students and the music industry in the illegal downloading of music. It is completely free to college students and alumni.

So there are some catches to this whole free legal downloading.

First you have to be in college or a college alumnus. Second, there isn’t every artist that is out there, mostly mainstream artists and some underdogs. Third, you cannot burn the music onto CDs.

Ruckus has become the leader in digital media offered free to college students. You have unlimited access to more than 2.5 million music tracks and more than 4,000 movies and television shows. You can download entire albums in about a minute and you can load the music onto most mp3 players (an exception is the iPod because it has its own software). You can load your own play lists onto Ruckus.com to share with people who have similar music tastes. There are many ways to discover new music and new people.

If you are in college, heading there or an alumnus, I recommend Ruckus. There is no worries of viruses and its’ completely 100 percent legal. Download some Lydia, Mayday Parade and some Circa Survive. If you don’t like them, well, I guess you’re a country music fan.

Sandi Fairbanks is a 2006 graduate of Unadilla Valley Central School. She recently completed her freshman year at the State University College at Plattsburgh.