If you think all your friends have jumped on the legal-downloading bandwagon, a new study conducted by the Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) at the University of Richmond School of Law may surprise you.

The study found that more than one-third of college students, ages 18 to 24, download music illegally.

Other notable findings include that 74 percent of students claim downloading helps "up-and-coming" musicians and that one-third of those students illegally downloading know it is wrong, but do so to save money.

"I think the reason [of saving money], they stated, is the biggest factor," said Jim Gibson, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and director of the IPI. "College students are uniquely situated in that they have lots of time on their hands and high-speed Internet access."

The study also showed 54 percent of students are unaware of their university's policies regarding illegal downloading.

Penn State's policy states that it is a prohibited activity to "disseminate material, which violates the copyright or other intellectual property rights of others. [Students] assume all risks regarding the determination of whether material is in the public domain."

Yet, on several occasions, when referring to the bandwidth allotments, the policy plainly states that Penn State does not look at the downloaded content, only the amount.

One proposed solution to the problem has been to grant students free subscriptions to file-sharing programs, such as Napster.

"It's an interesting alternative," Gibson said. "Colleges are under a lot of pressure by copyright owners to cut down on infringement. Some schools like Penn State have chosen to offer a legal alternative to persuade students to download legally."

Emily Friedlander (sophomore-elementary education) said she uses a workaround program to convert Napster songs into versions she can put on her iPod, but doesn't see the act as illegal.

"With the technicalities, what I'm doing is not illegal. Plus, CDs are too expensive. If anything, I would buy the songs off of iTunes rather than go out to a store and spend 18 bucks," she said.

As far as promoting "up-and-coming" artists, Gibson calls the reason a self-justification that students may use.

"Students need to rationalize the need to download music, but it's difficult to know whether they only download 'up-and-coming' artists or use it as an excuse to download all kinds of music," he said.

Along with the release of the study, around 4,000 copies of a 12-minute documentary titled What Do You Think? were released to colleges and universities, said Steve Cummings, creative director and writer of the film.

"The big stance is the technological workarounds and the subpoenas and lawsuits students are getting," he said. "What's missing is a great educational opportunity to teach students about these ideas."

Penn State's agreement with Napster may have left Mac users out to dry, but they have found workarounds, too.

"I have a Mac, so Napster isn't even an option for me," said Colleen Schisler (junior-psychology). "I use LimeWire because it's one of the only programs that work for Macs."

Gibson said he doesn't see downloading ever going away completely, but programs such as iTunes and Napster help students that want to do the right thing.

"If a student is truly sampling music, then that is probably OK, but I think there are millions, maybe tens of millions, that are just downloading it because they feel like getting something for nothing," he said.