As the record industry sounded the alarms after a decline in sales for 2001, State College record stores faced a similar trend in their sales for the year.

The decline was severe enough to prompt Mike Negra, president of Mike's Music, 226 E. College Ave., to approach the university administration about addressing the issue of MP3 downloading by students.

"We met and talked about what the problem was," Negra said. "They were receptive to my concerns but not sure what could be done."

Negra is concerned that students are using the university network for widespread copyright infringement — causing area record sales to decline — though he is unsure how to stop it.

"I don't know that there is any way to eliminate it," he said.

Mike's Music has seen sales slip by 15 to 30 percent in recent years, a figure much higher than the rest of the industry, said Joe Apfelbaum, who purchases CDs for Mike's.

"We've been way down," he said. "College towns in America have been worst hit."

Gary Augustson, information technology vice provost, confirmed that Negra approached the university last summer about the issue, but he said university policy does not allow policing of downloaded content.

"We told him then, we won't inspect for content," Augustson said.

Penn State policy allows action to be taken when specific complaints are received about copyright infringement, such as those filed by lawyers representing Dr. Dre and Metallica in 2000.

The recent policy limiting students' downloads to 1.5 gigabytes per week was adopted solely in response to the load on Penn State's server, Augustson said. He said Negra's request had no bearing on the decision.

While the university has not taken specific action against the use of its server for copyright infringement, Augustson said he thinks a problem exists.

"It is highly likely that Mike's right, that some of the use in the residence halls is illegal downloading of copyrighted material," he said. "I was very pleased that he brought the issue forward."

Other record store owners in State College also said technology is an issue, though it has not affected their sales as much.

City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave., reported steady sales for 2001, but store manager Ken Kubala said this was due to the closing of several record stores in the area, diverting business to the remaining shops, including City Lights.

The loss of sales to technology is still tangible every day, he said.

"Technology has had a lot of impact on the industry," Kubala said.

Mark Biega, owner of Arboria Records, 119 E. Beaver Ave., said he has seen declining sales for several years.

"I've seen that trend for a couple years now," he said.

Biega said he thought technology played a role in the decline, but thought it was a good and bad situation.

The technology introduces people to new music, though it decreases sales, he said.

Negra said that although the university limited downloads, his concerns about technology remain.

"Kids are not buying music," he said. "Why do you think Vibes isn't here, The Wall isn't here?"

He predicted that declining sales will cause more stores to close.

"At some point in time, Wal-Mart is gonna be the only place you find music," he said.