So you remember how Napster's plan was to blow the iTunes Music Store right off the map by virtue of the "strength of the Napster brand" alone? Kinda makes us want to get Roxio CEO Chris Gorog on the horn and ask, "so, uh, how's that all working out for you, then?" Not to gloat, of course (well, not much, anyway), but more to find out if Napster has any kind of "Plan B" now that the whole "brand awareness" thing seems to be about as effective a business strategy as, say, voodoo and lottery tickets. And if we could get Mr. "Brand Awareness" on the phone, and if he were just drunk enough to talk, we figure he'd admit that Napster's backup plan is simple: ethical blackmail of our nation's higher education institutions.

Now this is a strategy that might actually work. See, as the colleges and universities see it, they experience a near-constant influx of drunken young reprobates (yay drunken young reprobates!) who would download an illicit copy of some devil-rock anthem with as little hesitation and compunction as they would stab Mother Goose with a switchblade for a free candy cane. As such, these institutions are practically wetting themselves over the near-certainty that their high-speed networks will be pushed to capacity by unrepentant music thieves, and crippling RIAA litigation will no doubt ensue. So, what to do?

Napster to the rescue; lately the service has been pimping itself out to colleges in an ever-increasing capacity, extorting undisclosed sums to provide unlimited legal downloads to the aforementioned drunken young reprobates. The Washington Post reports that George Washington University is the latest such school to knuckle under to the pressure, having purchased Napster subscriptions for "all 7,100 on-campus students" this fall.

Let's see, 7,100 students times nine months in the school year times $9.95 per month... that comes out to a market value price of $635,805. Now, we strongly doubt that Napster's charging the school full price (The Register once reported that Napster had quoted Ohio University $3 per student per month, while Penn State and Rochester have both "admitted to getting steep discounts"), and the school says the program's first year "will be underwritten by a gift from a donor who wished to remain anonymous," but it's clear that deals like this represent a substantial chunk of revenue for Napster, who has finally found somebody willing to pay for a music download subscription.

Meanwhile, you can bet that whatever the school will end up paying Napster on top of the "anonymous donation" (what are the odds it's Gorog himself, desperate to sign up the first few schools to get the ball rolling?) is coming out of student's pockets in the form of an increased "student entertainment fee" or something like that. Now, given that Napster is a Windows-only service, what's the deal with the Mac-using contingent of GWU's student body? Are those particular drunken young reprobates expected to help foot the bill for a service they can't use? Here's hoping that they investigate the situation and make sure that their (or their parents') hard-earned dollars aren't being blown on something they had no say in choosing and which they can't use anyway.

Not that a cross-platform alternative is necessarily much preferable, mind you; whereas GWU students are being given free unlimited-song Napster subscriptions, Virginia Tech "will provide students with software for Apple's iTunes, which allows for the lawful downloading of online music." Gosh, VT will give students software that they can download for free? Whoa there, Big Spender, you don't want to break the bank. That said, we can't help wondering if Apple isn't missing out on something by not offering some sort of unlimited-download service, even if it's only to educational institutions. You know, just to make Napster sweat a little more.