A CSUN alumnus has created a website that brings people together through media and allows them to legally share music, movies and more online.

Melinky.com targets college students in the same way as MySpace, said co-founder Perry Weinstein, who majored in broadcast journalism.

The website, which launched to the public Feb. 1, features homepages for universities where students can find and make friends based on the music they listen to, Weinstein said.

The website will link people by titles of music they like and don’t like, said Weinstein.

Melinky.com will choose an ambassador from each school it targets and create a homepage for that school, Weinstein said. The ambassadors will receive rewards as they accumulate more people to join the network, he said.

“The more active the schools are, the more rewards (they get),” said Weinstein.

One of the rewards, which goes to the ambassador who gains the most members at the of the year, is a round-trip to anywhere in the world, he said.

One of the first schools Melinky plans to promote at is CSUN, said Weinstein, and then to other universities in California and the U.S.

Through the website, users can see options to search for movies, music, games and YouTube clips. They also have the option of listening to entire songs on YouTube without leaving the website and downloading the song or CD, Weinstein said.

Sales people are telling consumers what they might like but with Melinky, consumers will know what they like by listening to the music collection of their friends, Weinstein said.

The service is free right now and includes 30-second song samples, Weinstein said.

The website is completely legal and it’s a way to get rid of illegal downloads since people still have to buy the songs, CDs, or movies through Amazon.com, said Weinstein.

Melinky is not partnered with Amazon in any way, Weinstein said, but they have the largest collection of media than anyone else.

People don’t usually know that Amazon has a digital store like iTunes and with Melinky they’ll be able to rent or own movies, Weinstein said.

Since the website is new, not all the features are active yet. One feature that will allow users to access music from any place they are at without needing the actual hard drive will come out in about eight weeks, said Guillaume Toumeur, co-founder of Melinky.

Once users synchronized their music to website, it will be stored in Melinky’s server and all their music will be available to anyone, anywhere, said Toumeur.

Lizethe Hernandez, a psychology major, said the idea around Melinky might create a way to change the experience of how people will listen to music groups.

“I like that idea of exchange,” said Hernandez about sharing her music with others and vise versa. She currently visits social networking sites such as MySpace for socializing, but when it comes to music, she uses ProjectPlaylist.com.

ProjectPlaylist has a music search engine where a person can type a song title and post media on sites like MySpace, said Hernandez.

“You don’t have to sign on to it,” Hernandez said.

At Projectplaylist, there are options to do blogs and create playlists, but for those options people have to sign up for an account.

Mike Quitasol, a communications major, said Melinky sounds like a good idea because it could be use to network with people with similar music likings. But once people know they have to buy music for a full cost, it might not work out, Quitasol said.

People are used to downloading music for free from websites such as Limewire.com, he said.