Beginning this week, all students with valid university e-mail accounts will be able to use the service to download music to their computers.

The Herndon, Va.-based company aims to boost the number of college students who use its service to woo more age-appropriate advertisers. The company adopted the ad-supported business model about a year ago.

"Free and legal digital music has just become broadly available to the most active and engaged music consumer group on the planet," said Michael Bebel, Ruckus' president and chief executive.

Previously, the service was available only to students at universities that had entered into agreements with Ruckus.

The company estimates several hundred thousand students at more than 100 universities already use its service. Students outside Ruckus' network of affiliated universities will not be able to download movies, but will have access to Ruckus' more than 2.1 million tracks, which they can download to their computers for free.

To transfer audio files to a portable music player, however, users must pay either $5 a month or $19.99 per semester.

The 1. FC Nürnberg goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer will leave the Bundesliga club at the end of the season to join rivals VfB Stuttgart on a four-year contract.

Agreement reached
Nürnberg sporting director Martin Bader said: "We have reached an agreement with VfB Stuttgart about Raphael's transfer. We regret losing our team captain, but Raphael wants to join Stuttgart and we accept that." Nürnberg had an option to extend Schäfer's contract for another year but decided to cash in instead with a sum of €2m being reported.

Contract withdrawal
The 27-year-old custodian joined Nürnberg in 2001 from third-division side VfB Lübeck and has played 80 Bundesliga and 33 second division games for the club to date. Stuttgart moved for Schäfer after withdrawing their contract offer to current keeper Timo Hildebrand. Stuttgart's sporting director Horst Heldt said: "We had different options but signed Schäfer because he is exactly what we have been looking for." Seventh-placed Nürnberg meet Stuttgart, in fourth, at the Frankenstadion in the Bundesliga this weekend.

Manchester United have raised their bid for Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves to a massive £23 million.

The Daily Mail says the Bundesliga outfit are stalling on a deal which will allow the midfielder to move to Old Trafford before the end of the month.

United boss Ferguson views Hargreaves as the final piece in the jigsaw as his team chase honours on both the European and domestic fronts.

He will provide the bite missing since the departure of Roy Keane to Celtic as United seek to win the Champions League and swipe the Premiership crown from Chelsea.

The 1. FC Nürnberg goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer will leave the Bundesliga club at the end of the season to join rivals VfB Stuttgart on a four-year contract.

Agreement reached
Nürnberg sporting director Martin Bader said: "We have reached an agreement with VfB Stuttgart about Raphael's transfer. We regret losing our team captain, but Raphael wants to join Stuttgart and we accept that." Nürnberg had an option to extend Schäfer's contract for another year but decided to cash in instead with a sum of €2m being reported.

Contract withdrawal
The 27-year-old custodian joined Nürnberg in 2001 from third-division side VfB Lübeck and has played 80 Bundesliga and 33 second division games for the club to date. Stuttgart moved for Schäfer after withdrawing their contract offer to current keeper Timo Hildebrand. Stuttgart's sporting director Horst Heldt said: "We had different options but signed Schäfer because he is exactly what we have been looking for." Seventh-placed Nürnberg meet Stuttgart, in fourth, at the Frankenstadion in the Bundesliga this weekend.

ING Renault F1 Team roars into F1 with a spectacular Amsterdam launch for the R27 racer and aims for continued on-track success. The ING Renault F1 Team today nailed its new colours to the mast with the launch of the all-new R27 F1 car and a striking visual identity.

The ING Renault F1 Team today signalled its arrival in Formula 1 in style, with a spectacular media presentation in front of 600 VIPs and media in Amsterdam. Winners of consecutive Constructors’ world championships in 2005 and 2006, the team proudly unveiled new title partner ING and the striking new livery that will adorn the R27 cars throughout the 2007 season and beyond.

“Double championship success in 2005 and 2006 has earned Renault its status as a major force in Formula 1,” asserted Dassas. “Our Formula 1 championship success is a benchmark of excellence that we aim to meet in every area of our operations. The Renault F1 Team’s performance culture reflects the ambitious objectives of our company-wide plan, Renault Commitment 2009. Consecutive double championships (Driver and Constructor) are concrete proof that Renault can win in a demanding environment where success demands quality, technical excellence and reliability.

“We must now live up to that reputation. The team will present a fresh face to the world with the arrival of ING as our new title partner, and we are proud to welcome this major, global financial institution to Formula 1. But on track, our challenge will remain the same: we will be asking our technical teams and drivers to make Renault a championship contender in 2007.”

After evaluating the three top teams in Formula 1, ING selected the Renault F1 Team as the perfect fit for its first global marketing campaign. With a reach of 60 million clients around the world, ING is seeking to exploit its significant investment in Formula 1, which will also include title sponsorship of the opening round of the season in Australia, to grow brand awareness globally. The Renault F1 Team’s track record as a proven winner was a decisive factor in their decision to sponsor the reigning world champions.

“Our Formula 1 programme is a global sponsorship initiative which will help us to enhance the awareness of one unified ING brand worldwide.” explained Tilmant. “Formula 1 is currently the best platform for a global sponsorship programme, as it has the potential to reach a broad customer base. We chose Renault for its track record as a high-performing team. We are convinced that teaming up with the Renault F1 Team fosters our objectives of encouraging teamwork, performance culture and permanent progress. I am confident that the ING Renault F1 Team will remain highly competitive in the coming years. I wish the team a lot of success in the coming season”.

The ING Renault F1 Team’s 2007 challenger has been christened R27. The new car represents an evolution of the design philosophy that won world championship success in 2005 and 2006. Every part of the car has been designed to meet demanding performance criteria that will enable the team to maintain its front-running performance. The aerodynamic packaging represents a further step forward over its predecessor in terms of overall efficiency, and innovative solutions have been employed in a number of areas to achieve improved performance under stable technical regulations. The car also features a new ‘instantaneous gearchange’ seven-speed gearbox, and has been designed with maximum set-up flexibility in order that its dynamic characteristics can be tuned to suit the Bridgestone Potenza tyres that will be used by every team in 2007.

“I am very proud of the team’s work on R27,” commented Technical Director Bob Bell. “We have enjoyed two seasons of remarkable success, but there is no complacency at all at Renault. Finding performance under stable regulations always obeys the law of diminishing returns, but our technical group has worked hard to innovate and ensure that the new car represents a genuine step forward over its predecessor in every area.

“The aerodynamic packaging is even more sophisticated than in previous years, while the gains from our new gearbox have been significant on track. We have kept the mechanical configuration of the suspension consistent in order to understand as thoroughly as possible the demands of the new Bridgestone Potenza tyres. We made a successful start to the adaptation process in the latter stages of 2006, and this will continue up to the first race. Everybody is expecting an extremely competitive season in 2007, and we are confident that our proven track record of world championship success will prove a considerable asset in that battle. The team is hungry to continue winning, and the R27 reflects that determination.”

The new car will be powered by the 2.4L V8 RS27 engine, which has been designed to the requirements of the ‘engine homologation’ regulations which will be in force for 2007 and beyond. Conceived to limit expenditure on engine development, these rules specify that no performance improvements can be made to the engine relative to the definitive specification that will be submitted to the FIA by 1 March 2007. The engine is based on the RS26 V8 engine that competed in the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix last season, and has been re-tuned in line with modifications permitted by the regulations for the new maximum rev limit of 19,000 rpm that will be imposed on all competitors.

“Our work for 2007 has been very different to previous years,” revealed the team’s Deputy Managing Director (Engine), Rob White. “Rather than designing a new engine, as we have done every season since 2001, the regulations have limited our work to optimising how the engine operates within the new 19,000 rpm rev limit. Our development work has been conducted within the framework of the new rules and although the engine will be called RS27, it contains just 10% new parts – compared to over 95% in previous years. However, it remains one of the most advanced competition engines in the world, operating in an extreme environment, with tiny margins for error. As always, our goal will be to achieve the only acceptable objective for a topline Formula 1 engine: zero-defect reliability. We have worked hard to blend this with competitive performance for the season ahead.”

The RS27 engine will also equip the cars of Red Bull Racing during the 2007 season, under the terms of a new engine supply agreement. The agreement specifies that both teams will use the same specification of engine, and a team of Renault F1 Team engineers will provide trackside support to Red Bull Racing. The new agreement marks the continuation of a tradition that begin in 1983, and which has seen customer Renault engines win 80 Grands Prix since that time.

“We are very much looking forward to the new challenge, which is part of Renault’s racing tradition,” explained the team’s Head of Engine Track Operations Denis Chevrier. “We will be looking to derive maximum benefit from every kilometre completed by a Renault engine, to improve the performance and reliability of all four Renault engines on track. But Red Bull Racing will remain a competitor like any other for the ING Renault F1 Team. We have established very clear operating principles for the new relationship, and look forward to an honest, trusting collaboration with our new partners.”

The R27 completed its first shakedown in Jerez on 16 January, and the team tested at the same circuit from 17-19 January with two brand new chassis – a first for the team, that provides a decisive advantage in allowing both race drivers to accumulate maximum mileage in the R27 before the opening race of the season. The team completed over 2000 km in testing, with only minor early-life reliability problems. Following their first test at the wheel of the new car, 2007 race drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen are already feeling positive about their chances for the new season.

For Giancarlo Fisichella, 2007 will be his third year with the team – and the opportunity to deliver on the promise glimpsed during the previous two seasons. Having been an integral part of the team’s championship successes in 2005 and 2006, the Italian will aim to add racewinning consistency to his natural speed in order to become a regular contender at the front of the field. An unquestionable asset will be his extensive Formula 1 experience, as he will be the third most-experienced driver in the field in 2007.

“The spirit of the team is strong after two fantastic seasons, and we are feeling optimistic,” explained the Italian. “The team has shown its confidence in me for the new season, and I am determined to repay that in the best way possible, out on track. The team knows how to design winning cars capable of fighting for the championship. That means there is a fantastic opportunity for me this year, and I am determined to make the most of it.”

Alongside Fisichella will be new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, one of the brightest young talents in Formula 1. The Finn has completed over 30,000 km in testing during recent seasons, and has proved his racing credentials as a member of the Renault Driver Development programme since 2002. The team has now offered him the rare opportunity to make his Formula 1 debut in a championship-winning team.

“I am very excited about the new season,” commented the Finn. “But I know that so far, I have achieved nothing at all. I pushed myself very hard last year in testing, to show the team that I was capable of doing the job. They had faith in me, and now it is my turn to deliver on that promise. It is a big privilege for a rookie driver to start his career in a race-winning car, and I am focused on doing it justice. This will be a season where I have a lot to learn, and I need to keep mistakes to a minimum. There will be pressure, but that will come from me, because I always drive myself to improve in every area. Overall, I am expecting 2007 to be a fantastic year for me. I am in the best possible place to start my career, and my focus is on preparing as thoroughly as possible for the first race – and the sixteen to come after that.”

The race driver duo will be aided by newly-recruited test drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Ricardo Zonta. They will bring a valuable blend of youthful talent and professional experience to the team, as it manages the transition to Bridgestone tyres while simultaneously building for the future. At the ING Renault F1 Team, all the ingredients are in place to start a new winning era, under new colours. An exciting new title sponsorship and new faces in the driver line-up signal the beginning of a new era, but the foundations are firmly rooted in the title-winning success of recent seasons.

“This is no year of transition for the ING Renault F1 Team,” emphasised Managing Director Flavio Briatore. “We have always said that the team is what matters, and that success comes from the team spirit that unites us. 2007 is a fantastic opportunity to prove exactly that. There are some big changes for this season, not just at Renault but throughout the grid. We believe in our choices, and we are confident that they will help us achieve more success in 2007. It will be a year of tough competition at every level. Those are the conditions that allow the best teams to shine, and that is exactly what we intend to do.”

Olympique Lyonnais have signed striker Milan Baroš from Aston Villa FC, with fellow forward John Carew travelling in the opposite direction.

Houllier factor
The move reunites the Czech international with Lyon coach Gérard Houllier, the manager who had brought him to Liverpool FC from FC Baník Ostrava during the 2001/02 campaign. "He is eligible for the UEFA Champions League and has lots of experience and motivation," Houllier said of his acquisition, who will have a three-and-a-half year contract at Stade Gerland. Norway target man Carew, 27, has committed to Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa for a similar period.

Mixed fortunes
Baroš spent three full seasons at Anfield, including the triumphant UEFA Champions League run of 2004/05, before joining Liverpool's Premiership rivals Villa for a fee in the region of €9m at the start of last term. However, the 25-year-old failed to reproduce his prolific national-team form – he has 30 goals in 53 games for his country – at the Birmingham-based club. Baroš has been limited to ten league starts in 2006/07, yielding a solitary strike, and he had long been the subject of transfer speculation. He is the French champions and Ligue 1 leaders' second January signing after CS Sedan-Ardennes full-back Nadir Belhadj, who has been loaned back to Sedan.

Fresh start
Carew leaves Lyon with a championship medal to show for his 18-month spell in French football following previous stints with Vålerenga IF, Rosenborg BK, Valencia CF, AS Roma and Beşiktaş JK. In all, he scored ten goals in 35 Ligue 1 outings. His new team, who according to reports in France will also receive cash for Baroš, sit 14th in the Premiership.

Olympique Lyonnais slumped to their second Ligue 1 defeat in succession and their first of the season at home when they lost 2-1 to FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

Bordeaux bubbling
Bordeaux, runners-up to Lyon last season, opened the scoring on three minutes with a penalty by Argentine midfielder Pablo Francia after striker Jean-Claude Darcheville was brought down by Rémy Vercoutre, who was deputising for the injured Grégory Coupet in the Lyon goal. Playmaker Johan Micoud doubled the visitors' advantage with a header on 27 minutes before Brazil forward Fred reduced the arrears from close range on 64 minutes.

Lyon falter
Lyon have now lost three out of 21 games but still comfortably top the Ligue 1 standings on 50 points. Coach Gérard Houllier's team remain ideally placed to become the first side from a major European league to win six consecutive titles but they appear to be slowing down after a fantastic start to the season.

Marseille second
Franck Ribéry struck twice to earn Olympique Marseille a 3-1 home victory against AJ Auxerre in a match played behind closed doors. The hosts, who moved into second place, went ahead in the ninth minute when playmaker Ribéry scored with a 25-metre drive. Polish striker Ireneusz Jeleń levelled eight minutes later when he poked home a Benoît Cheyrou corner. Ribéry made it 2-1 after being set up by Djibril Cissé in the 38th minute and Nigerian defender Taye Taiwo wrapped up the win with a powerful free-kick with two minutes to go.

Lens lose
Marseille took over second from RC Lens on goal difference after the northern side lost 1-0 at FC Lorient thanks to Rafik Saifi's winner. Jean Makoun got the only goal for LOSC Lille Métropole as they moved up to fourth after managing a 1-0 home victory against Paris Saint-Germain FC, who are still looking for their first league win under new coach Paul le Guen. Goals by Jimmy Briand and Etienne Didot earned Stade Rennais FC a 2-0 win at AS Monaco FC.

Valenciennes held
In other results, Valenciennes FC drew 1-1 with Le Mans UC 72, as did FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and CS Sedan-Ardennes. ES Troyes Aube Champagne secured a 1-0 home win against FC Nantes Atlantique and Toulouse FC managed the same result away to OGC Nice. AS Nancy-Lorraine host AS Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1 on Thursday.

The Spurs led throughout en route to their sixth win in eight games. San Antonio used a 9-0 first-quarter run to build a 24-10 lead, ran the lead to 30-15 by the end of the quarter, and led by 20 at halftime.

Philadelphia cut the deficit to 13 in the third period, but another 9-0 San Antonio run in the fourth quarter put the game away.

Brent Barry led the San Antonio attack with 23 points. The Spurs got 12 points from both Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry.

Andre Iguodala had 20 points to lead the Sixers, who finished with six players in double figures -- including Samuel Dalembert with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

For the eleventh time in the open era, a British man faces one of the top two seeds in the Australian Open and it is unlikely that any match — even the 1977 final in Kooyong, when John Lloyd should not have lost to the late, lamented Vitas Gerulaitis — can have captured the imagination as completely as Andy Murray’s collision with Rafael Nadal this morning under the lights of the Rod Laver Arena.

From Gerald Battrick’s third-round match against Tony Roche, the No 1 seed in 1970, to Greg Rusedski’s meeting six years ago with Gustavo Kuerten, when the Brazilian was the world No 1 and Rusedski won 9-7 in the fifth set, the draws are liberally sprinkled with such compelling jousts.

Yet there is something about Murray versus Nadal that excites and fascinates like no other. There are few in the corridors of Melbourne Park willing to pin their colours totally to the British No 1’s mast but, equally, no one can bring themselves to write him off. The two have not met, the Spanish No 2 seed has never lost on the tour to a younger player, Murray does not understand what subservience means and theirs is a resplendent contrast of styles and characters.

“A beautiful match-up,” Jim Courier, the former world No 1 and champion here in 1992 and 1993, said last night. “Murray is a cagey counter-puncher who misses very infrequently and knows how to construct points, but he hasn’t played anyone with the ability to overpower him, which Nadal has. This will be a big ask physically and we’ll discover if he did the work in the off-season he said he did.

“It looks as if he is much stronger, he’s playing beautifully, he’s thumping guys. It’s good for him that this is happening in ’07 because he would have been manhandled by Nadal if it had been a match-up a year ago. I don’t think that will happen now. But Nadal is suited by the court, he’s fast, he’s intimidating. Brad Gilbert [Murray’s coach] is a positive influence and one of his strengths is his ability to break down opponents and offer a set plan for his man to work to. I’m keen to see what that plan is.

“The other guys feel that Murray’s not going to miss and that unless they do something extra, he’s going to hurt them. He is so good on defence, getting the ball into awkward spots, and he has a really strong court sense. That’s something no one can teach.”

That the fourth-round match will be played late in the evening local time offers Murray a subtle advantage, because Nadal would have felt happier with the midday sun beating down as if he were at home in Majorca.

What will not fail Murray is his mental toughness. As one of his compatriots said this week, “there is not a match in this championship he will not be sick if he doesn’t win”. There you have a snapshot of the 19-year-old, who really has nothing to lose today except a little of his dignity. Murray is the last Scot in the championship from the four who began it at various levels: main draw, qualifying, doubles and juniors. Graeme Dyce, the red-haired 17-year-old — coached in his formative years by Judy Murray, Andy’s mother — lost in the first round of the junior event in three sets to Lazaré Kukhalashvili, from Georgia.

Kukhalashvili, 15, travelled here as a member of an LTA group and has shared digs with Dyce and Dan Cox for three weeks. Recently denied a second working visa to the United States, where he had been practising at the Nick Bollettieri Academy, he came to West London before Christmas to train at Queen’s Club, under the auspices of the LTA.

Negotiations are continuing between the association and Kukhalashvili’s management about him qualifying for residency and, possibly, playing for Great Britain one day. Both sides are said to be serious. From first impressions yesterday — the boy is fast, his ground strokes pack a punch and he has great spirit — he is worth checking out.

Alex Bogdanovic, the British No 3, has decided to part company with Mike Raphael, his coach, after a defeat in the first round of qualifying here. It would appear that the LTA has a ready-made replacement in Peter Lundgren, who has a contract to work 35 weeks a year in British tennis.

The newspaper claimed that, when caught by Major League Baseball’s doping investigators, Bonds blamed it on a substance he had taken from the locker of Mark Sweeney, a team-mate. Bonds’s agent, Jeff Borris, offered “no comment”, while Sweeney’s agent, Barry Axelrod, said that his client “did not give Barry Bonds anything and there was nothing he could have given Barry Bonds”.

Various drugs allegations, largely ignored in the 1990s, when muscular sluggers were fashionable, have severely dented baseball’s credibility. Bonds is routinely booed by opposition fans and Mark McGwire, whose record Bonds broke and who is suspected of steroid use in the 1990s, when baseball had no rules against it, failed to reach the Hall of Fame this week, apparently because voters felt that he was not of sufficient character.

Apart from further damage to his reputation, if true, these latest allegations could cause legal trouble for Bonds. A federal grand jury is investigating whether he perjured himself when testifying in the Balco case in 2003 that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Under baseball’s amphetamines policy, players are not publicly identified for a first positive test. A second failed test for amphetamines results in a 25-game suspension. The first positive steroids test results in a 50-game ban.

The Daily News said that Bonds did not appeal the positive test, which made him subject to six drugs tests by MLB over the next six months.

The 42-year-old, who has hit 734 home runs, 21 shy of Hank Aaron’s all-time record, is negotiating a one-year contract extension with the Giants worth about £9 million.

After Raikkonen’s departure from the Woking-based team at the end of last season, there has been a whispering campaign against the “Flying Finn”, with some prominent voices in Formula One questioning whether he has the right attitude and the selfdiscipline to carry on at Ferrari where Michael Schumacher left off.

Athough Raikkonen is regarded as the fastest driver on the grid, he is known to enjoy a drink and he can be a stubborn character who is resistant to advice from others. He is also not a noted communicator. This season is going to be tough on him, with high expectations from the Italian public and media and a team-mate in Felipe Massa, who is determined to be Ferrari’s No 1. Every year Ferrari decamp to this charming resort in the Dolomites (where snow is a precious commodity but where bears have been spotted on the piste in recent days), to introduce their drivers for the season ahead. With Schumacher trying to come to terms with retirement, this was Raikkonen’s turn to take centre stage. Last season, the “Kimster” displayed poor body language and unconcealed boredom at McLaren press conferences, but he looked more upbeat as he made his first appearance in the red and white of the Scuderia, who are thought to be paying him in the region of $60 million (about £31 million) over the next three years. He even tried an Italian “hello” to his future friends and foes in the local media, but there was nothing over the top from a man succinctly described by Martin Brundle as “low voltage”. For the most part, in his appearance in the resort’s convention centre, Raikkonen kept to his usual clipped style. He spoke of his hopes that things will go well for him — although he was not rash enough to promise a title in his first season with the team — he talked about a friendly relationship with Massa and how he looked forward to working with Schumacher, who has an advisory role in the background. Shortly before the session ended, he was asked about his attitude, his approach to training and suggestions that “some at McLaren” believe that Raikkonen’s way might not fit in with how Ferrari do things and that he may have to adjust his style. Raikkonen’s ears pricked up and the PR-speak was put to one side as the Finn seized the opportunity to get a few things off his chest. “I don’t know what McLaren has said or what they think,” he said. “I don’t know how they can say things about things they don’t know about, about how things are at Ferrari. In general, I’m not going to change my way. It’s been working well enough — it’s the way I want to do things.” Then he tackled the insinuation behind the question head on. “I don’t think even if I had changed my style to the way they wanted to do things it would have changed the results because the problems weren’t really about how I did my training or what I do in my private life,” Raikkonen said. “It was much more the car not lasting the race or it wasn’t quick enough. So, in that way, I don’t really mind what they say.” There is no love lost between Raikkonen and his erstwhile employers, for whom he drove for five years and scored nine wins. One suspects that he will get more pleasure out of beating McLaren this season than any other team. Raikkonen finished his exposition by saying that he sees no problems in his relationship with Ferrari — he implied the team are much easier to work with than McLaren — and he is not daunted by the prospect of taking over from Schumacher. “I’m not Michael Schumacher and the team don’t expect me to be,” he said.

After disappointing displays in the European Championship qualifying campaign last month, McClaren could have been expected to shuffle his pack. However, after the draw at home to Macedonia and defeat in Croatia, only Kieran Richardson, the Manchester United midfield player, has been dropped.

Micah Richards, Michael Dawson and Ben Foster have yet to be capped at senior international level, but should benefit from the trip even if not used.

Richards, 18, of Manchester City, is tipped as a possible successor to Gary Neville at right back, but can also play in central defence. Were he to make his debut, he would be the youngest defender to earn a senior cap, beating the record of Rio Ferdinand, who played against Cameroon at 19 years and 8 days.

“I’ve watched Micah play a number of times and he’s a strong, quick and athletic player who has really impressed with City this season,” McClaren said. “This match provides us with a great opportunity to have a look at him over the next few days. He fully deserves his chance.”

Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool midfield player, appears certain to return to the starting line-up after suspension. With Lennon a possible inclusion on the right flank, McClaren could abandon his experiment of playing Gerrard in a wide role and return him to the middle.