Penn State students still mourning over the loss of Napster for copyrighted songs are not alone.

Other Big Ten universities are taking action against Napster — some even blocking it from their networks altogether.

Each university has a unique method for dealing with students using the software to infringe copyrights. While some schools solely warn students of the consequences of copyright infringements, others have blocked Napster from their computer network completely.

Christopher Simpson, vice president for public affairs and government affairs at Indiana University, said that his school blocked Napster late last spring.

"The legal questions involving Napster are unclear to us. Until we have a better understanding of the legal situation, it would not be prudent to have it on our network," Simpson said.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University have also have blocked Napster from their networks. Each school cites different reasons for the block.

According to the University of Minnesota's Web site, www.umn.edu, Napster was "overloading networks with excessive data."

Those visiting the University of Illinois' Web site, www.uillinois.edu, learn students often distribute MP3 files without even realizing it. When a student clicks on the "X" in the right corner of the computer screen, the program continues to serve files.

Northwestern University, www.northwestern.edu, cites the fact that it is illegal to swap or distribute copyrighted MP3s as the reason for banning Napster.

Not all universities are banning Napster.

Rules for Napster usage vary in each of Wisconsin University's 13 campuses, said Glenda Morgan, learning technology analyst for Wisconsin University. The university students are warned against using Napster, however, some campuses allow Napster and others do not.

Michigan State is one university that allows the use of Napster.

"Michigan State has rules and regulations governing Napster, but we haven't pulled it," said Terry Denbow, vice president for university relations.