NEW YORK CITY -- A significant portion of yesterday's Board of Trustees meeting was set aside for representatives from Napster and Sony Music to comment on Penn State's initiatives towards stopping illegal downloading and the university's effect on the music industry.

In his opening remarks, Penn State President Graham Spanier gave an overview of the university's most recent accomplishments and how far the university's connections extend.

"Penn State is not merely a Pennsylvania enterprise," he said. "Our reach quite literally extends around the world."

Also within his opening statement, Spanier presented to the board how successful the new Napster program has been on campus.

Marcel Garaud, Sony vice president for new technology, discussed Sony's efforts to help educational institutions find a way to combat illegal downloading.

"We are trying to create a stronger bind between the music industry and educational institutions," he said.

Garaud said Sony wants to educate students about copyright infringement and also help bring programs, such as Napster, to other institutions.

"The support of Penn State has been tremendous," he said. "That deal has generated a lot of interest in issues that are pertinent to the record business."

Michele Anthony, Sony executive vice president, said there has been a tremendous interest coming from Washington, D.C. regarding Penn State's effort to stop illegal downloading.

Anthony said several senators have been enlisted to visit with universities in their states to discuss options.

Anthony said educational institutions need to recognize the drastic change music piracy has cause over the past three years.

"Three years ago, the music industry was a $40 billion industry," she said. "This past year, it is only $27 billion due to piracy."

Anthony also said that due to this drastic decrease, Sony has been forced to layoff 4,000 of its 12,000 employees over the past three years.

"For the past six months, we have seen a slight stabilization in the decline, which is the good news," she said.

Anthony attributed this stabilization to programs such as Napster.

With the current success of the Napster program, Spanier said the university is looking into how it can utilize the new technology for educational purposes.

"We have at Penn State thousands of students who are taking classes in music, music theory, performance, jazz and music theatre," he said. "A student has to go to the library, check out a CD, go find a station, listen to some Beethoven, and turn the CD back in so another student can listen."

Spanier said with Napster, students would not have to worry about this anymore.

"A music professor will put together a play list, and the student can directly link to those songs through the Napster service," he said.

Aileen Atkins, Napster business affairs senior vice president and general counsel, also discussed the problems of copyright infringement with the board.

"Music has been the poster child for digital development and copyright infringement," she said.

Atkins agreed with Spanier and said she believes Napster can be used for educational purposes. She said Napster's production and programming teams have been working on ways to make course components available online.