A number of colleges are negotiating with online-music services to test a campuswide program under which colleges would pay the companies to let students download music legally. According to Graham B. Spanier, president of Pennsylvania State University, the test would start next spring.

The negotiations are part of a broad effort by the recording industry and colleges to stem the online pirating of music by college students. The Recording Industry Association of America says the sharing of music online by students and others has sharply reduced the sale of music on compact disks, and the group has begun a campaign of identifying and suing people who illegally share large numbers of music files.

Mr. Spanier made the disclosure on Tuesday during a news conference at which he discussed the progress of a committee he heads with Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, that is charged with prodding colleges to find ways to reduce illegal file sharing by students. The committee, called the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities, is made up of college administrators and entertainment-company executives.

In June the committee asked for information from online-media companies that could provide campuses with music and video service. Another request for information went out to technology companies that could help colleges with blocking or filtering technologies to limit file sharing.

Penn State and the University of Rochester are expected to be part of the pilot program. Other colleges that will be involved may be disclosed by the end of this month, Mr. Spanier said.

"We're hoping for a variety of institutions -- some large, some small, public, private, universities which have different IT systems -- to assess how the pilot is working," he said.

If the pilot is successful, colleges could consider making it permanent. Higher-education officials have discussed the idea, for example, of having colleges include in tuition or student-activities fees a subscription to a music service for students.

Mr. Spanier said Penn State and other colleges would use institutional funds to pay for the pilot service on their campuses, rather than charge students individually. Penn State has yet to decide whether to make the service available for all its students or just a limited number, he said.

Online-music services would be well served by offering colleges a "low priced" option permitting students to listen to music over the Internet, Mr. Spanier said.

"If they can develop a brand name and service loyalty to millions of college students, they have a leg up in developing a customer base for decades ahead," he said of the companies.