In an age of free information and media, another Web site has emerged with the promise of free, legal music and videos.

Spiralfrog.com, an entirely ad-supported Web site, launched Monday with support from EMI Music Publishing and Universal Music Group.

The industry giants boast two of the largest music catalogs on Earth, allowing SpiralFrog to start with more than 800,000 songs and 3,500 music videos available for download.

“EMI Music Publishing is the largest music publisher in the world,” said SpiralFrog CEO Robin Kent in a press release. “Obtaining these rights helps ensure that SpiralFrog can provide young consumers with access to recordings from a wide range of artists that they want to hear.”

However, not all people were quite as enthusiastic about the new Web site.

“I already use Ruckus, so there’s not much incentive to change,” said Craig Seydel, senior in logistics and supply chain management. “I suppose if it works the same as other free download sites, I’d be interested if it had songs Ruckus doesn’t.” Ruckus is a Web site that provides free downloads to anyone with a valid .edu e-mail address.

Some download services such as Ruckus are only available to university faculty and students, SpiralFrog gives free access to the general public. The only drawback is that users must log in to the site once a month in order to give the advertisers reason to keep providing support. If a user does not log in once per month, the music they downloaded from the site will lock up and become unplayable until reactivated.

Unfortunately for advertisers, there is software available that will hack the security encoding, essentially freeing downloaders from visiting www.spiralfrog.com on a monthly basis.

“Technology has so far outstripped copyright laws that a business solution is the best bet for these music publishers,” said Jeffrey Blevins, assistant professor of journalism and communication. “They’ve got to find a way to make a profit and this is the best they can do for now.”

Blevins noted that physical discs and devices are losing their necessity for allowing portable music.

“Even as CDs become antiquated, people need to understand the idea that online media changes hands so rapidly, it’s impossible to regulate,” he said.

One way the music industry may be fighting back is by encoding the music so it cannot be played on the Apple iPod.

“The recording industry sort of has a bargaining chip in respect to portable digital players,” Blevins said. “They can refuse to let music play on certain devices unless they get a share of profits, which may encourage more legal downloading in order to get music available for whatever format is needed.”

Some students were more receptive to more free music becoming available to them without the legal risks that come from downloading illegally.

“Free, unlimited downloads. You can’t really go wrong with that,” said Rob Schoene, senior in management information systems.

“I thought it looked cool. Another legitimate way to get free music would be nice.”

The music catalog currently includes popular artists such as Sting, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem and Gorillaz.