Mindawn and the University of California System

What is Mindawn and what does it offer in particular to University of California students?

For a good general overview of the Mindawn system, we have an FAQ that is kept up to date and can be read here. Here are some highlights from that document:

Mindawn works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Mindawn offers actual CD quality audio -- not "near", but actual.
Mindawn music files can be used on virtually any portable device (assuming you use FLAC instead of Ogg).
Any file can be played in full, up to 3 times, for free. This is the only DRM.
Speaking of DRM, we have no DRM on the purchased files -- you have the same rights as if you bought a normal CD.
The Mindawn system is open to any artist. Just sign up and put your music up for sale -- there is no review process.
Ripping software is provided free of charge for Windows, Mac and Linux.

What's special for the UC system?

Normally there is a $50 fee to open an artist account on Mindawn. We will waive this fee for UC students, allowing them to put music up immediately for sale.
Mindawn will host up to 5,000 audio lectures (or any other form of audio content). This may include professor lectures, public domain recordings essential for courses, or recordings of student recitals. All hosted material must be in compliance with US Copyright Law. Material can be password protected to allow for only authorized users to access.
Mindawn will also waive the $50 setup fee for University-created content. If the content is exclusive to Mindawn then a 75% royalty will be paid, if it is listed with other services then a 55% royalty will be paid.
Specialized links between online courses such as Blackboard and Mindawn can be easily created on demand.
Mindawn is an excellent method for Student Service organizations to find musical talent to bring to campus-events.
Our prices are in line with or lower than our competitors. For OGG format songs, we charge $0.99 up to a 10 minute song and an additional $0.99 for songs longer than 10 minutes. For the same song in FLAC format (lossless), we charge $1.24 for up to 10 minutes and an additional $1.24 for songs over 10 minutes. Even better discounts are available when whole albums are downloaded. We charge $6.99 for a whole OGG album and $8.99 for a whole FLAC album. No discounts on music downloads will be available, because we aim to insure that the artists make a reasonable amount for their creative endeavors. We are currently in the process of implementing a "rewards" system that we call "Mindawlers", where customers earn some percentage back on each purchase, which they can apply to purchases later.
All customer data is treated with the utmost respect and privacy. No information is ever sold to 3rd party organizations. Financial data is processed using a 128-bit fully encrypted server transaction certificate through Geotrust -- we do not store it on our servers. Access to the customer database is only afforded to the President of Mindawn and the Chief Financial officer. On occasion, Mindawn may e-mail users with announcements regarding new versions of software and new artists/labels joining their community. These announcements are strictly opt-in -- we would only e-mail people directly that aren't on an opt-in list for critical notices and not for marketing purposes.